Alice Y. Ting facts for kids

Alice Yen-Ping Ting is a brilliant American chemist who was born in Taiwan. She teaches genetics, biology, and chemistry at Stanford University. She also works as a researcher at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub and is a member of the important National Academy of Sciences.

Early Life and Education

Alice Ting was born in Taiwan and moved to the United States when she was just three years old. She grew up in Texas and went to a special school called the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS). Even in high school, she was doing advanced research at MIT's Research Science Institute.

She earned her first degree in chemistry from Harvard University in 1996. There, she worked with E.J. Corey, a scientist who won a Nobel Prize. She then completed her Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley in 2000. Her advisor was Peter G. Schultz. After that, she did more research with Roger Y. Tsien, who also won a Nobel Prize in 2008.

Amazing Career in Science

In 2002, Dr. Ting joined the MIT Chemistry Department. She was a professor there until 2016. In 2016, she moved to Stanford University. At Stanford, she works in the Departments of Genetics, Biology, and Chemistry.

Her research focuses on creating new ways to study cells. She uses methods like directed evolution and synthetic organic chemistry. These methods help scientists understand how cells work.

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Ting has received many important awards for her work. Some of these include:

• The National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award in 2008.
• The Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award from the American Chemical Society in 2010.
• The McKnight Technological Innovations in Neuroscience Award.
• The Technology Review TR35 Award.
• The Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship.
• The Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award.
• The Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award.
• The Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science in 2012.

Since 2017, Dr. Ting has been a researcher at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub. In 2022, she gave the John Kendrew Lecture at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. In 2023, she was chosen to be a member of the National Academy of Sciences. This is a very high honor for scientists.

Discovering How Cells Work

Dr. Ting and her team have created several important techniques. Many researchers around the world now use these methods.

Proximity Labeling (PL)

One key method is called Proximity labeling (PL). This technique helps scientists find molecules that are very close to a specific molecule inside living cells. Imagine you want to know what friends a certain person has in a crowded room. PL helps you find those "friends" (other molecules) that are right next to your "person" (molecule of interest).

Here's how it works:

• Scientists attach a special enzyme to the molecule they want to study.
• Then, they add a small chemical.
• This chemical allows the enzyme to "tag" any other molecules (like proteins or RNA) that are very close by.
• This helps scientists understand how molecules work together and how they might be linked to diseases.

Dr. Ting's lab has developed three widely used enzymes for PL: APEX2, TurboID, and miniTurbo. They used directed evolution to make these enzymes work better.

Other Cool Inventions

Dr. Ting's lab has also developed many other clever tools for studying cells:

• Monovalent streptavidin: A special tool for imaging single molecules.
• Site-specific biotinylation: A way to attach a tag to a specific spot on a molecule in living cells.
• Small monovalent quantum dots: Tiny bright particles used for seeing single molecules.
• APEX2 for electron microscopy: Like green fluorescent protein (GFP), but it lets scientists see things with a powerful electron microscope.
• Split horseradish peroxidase: Helps visualize connections between brain cells (called synapses) in living animals.
• FLARE (fast light- and activity-regulated expression): A way to control genes in active brain cells using light.
• SPARK (specific protein association tool giving transcriptional readout with rapid kinetics): A tool to quickly see when two proteins interact.
• PRIME (probe incorporation mediated by enzymes): A protein labeling technique that uses small, bright chemical probes instead of GFP. These probes are very bright and stable.

New Discoveries in 2024

In December 2024, Dr. Ting and her team announced a new invention. It's a special synthetic receptor called PAGER. PAGER stands for Programmable Antigen-gated G protein-coupled Engineered Receptor. This new tool can control how cells behave. It has been shown to control brain cell activity, trigger immune responses, and even deliver treatments in lab tests. PAGER is a big step forward in being able to "program" what cells do. This could lead to new treatments for diseases related to the immune system or the brain.