Walter Lab

Peter Walter

Distinguished Professor Emeritus

peter@walterlab.ucsf.edu

 About Peter

Peter Walter’s Biography
Peter’s UCSF Profile

Selected Articles

Harnessing Serendipity  by Esther Landhuis
Along unpredictable paths to discovery, Peter Walter has maintained a sure-footed approach – to the science as well as to the people he mentors …

This article features videos of interest including:

  • “Squeezing Time for Art” – Peter shares some of the pieces of art he has created and the stories behind them.
  •  “What is the Unfolded Protein Response” – Curious about the Unfolded Protein Response? Learn more from this video.
  • “The 2015 Vilcik Prize in Biomedical Science Video” – The Vilcek Foundation produced this video which captures a bit about a day in the life of Peter and our lab. We thank them for their generosity.

Walking Along the Serendipitous Path of Discovery by Peter Walter

Students entering graduate school often ask for the “recipe for success.” Yet looking back at the events that shaped my own career, both personal and scientific, I continue to be amazed by the convoluted paths, which are neither linear nor predictable. This is a difficult message to transmit to those embarking on a research career, and it invariably prompts the next question: “So you say that our success in science will be determined by dumb luck?” Not so—it’s serendipity, a word that much better describes our path to discovery. It is not uncommon that initially disappointing turns lead to unexpected outcomes that then miraculously align to appear as a progression of incredibly good fortune …

Selected Publications

Tran NH *, Carter SD *, De Mazière A, Ashkenazi A, Klumperman J, Walter P *, Jensen GJ *. The stress-sensing domain of activated IRE1α forms helical filaments in narrow ER membrane tubes. Science 374:52-57, 2021
(PMID : 34591618) (PDF)
Schoof M, Boone M, Wang L, Lawrence R, Frost A, Walter P. eIF2B conformation and assembly state regulate the integrated stress response. eLife 10:e65703, 2021
(PMID : 33688831) (PDF)
Vilarrasa-Blasi J, Fauser F, Onishi M, Ramundo S, Patena W, Millican M, Osaki J, Philp C, Nemeth M, Salomé PA, Li X, Wakao S, Kim RG, Kaye Y, Grossman AR, Niyogi KK, Merchant S, Cutler S, Walter P, Dinneny JR, Jonikas MC, Jinkerson RE. Systematic characterization of gene function in a photosynthetic organism. bioRxiv - preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.11.420950, 2020
( PMID : not available ) (PDF)
Ramundo S, Asakura Y, Salomé PA, Strenkert D, Boone M, Mackinder LCM, Takafuji K, Dinc E, Rahire M, Crèvecoeur M, Magneschi L, Schaad O, Hippler M, Jonikas MC, Merchant S, Nakai M, Rochaix J-D, Walter P. Co-expressed subunits of dual genetic origin define a conserved supercomplex mediating essential protein import into chloroplasts. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 202014294, 2020
(PMID : 33273113) (PDF)
Krukowski K, Nolan A, Frias ES, Boone M, Ureta G, Grue K, Paladini M-S, Elizarraras E, Delgado L, Bernales S, Walter P, Rosi S. Small molecule cognitive enhancer reverses age-related memory decline in mice. eLife 9:e62048, 2020
(PMCID : PMC7721440) (PMID : 33258451) (PDF)
Schoof M, Faust B, Saunders RA, Sangwan S, Rezelj V, Hoppe N, Boone M, Billesbølle CB, Puchades C, Azumaya CM, Kratochvil HT, Zimanyi M, Deshpande I, Liang J, Dickinson S, Nguyen HC, Chio CM, Merz GE, Thompson MC, Diwanji D, Schaefer K, Anand AA, Dobzinski N, Zha BS, Simoneau CR, Leon K, White KM, Chio US, Gupta M, Jin M, Li F, Liu Y, Zhang K, Bulkley D, Sun M, Smith AM, Rizo AN, Moss F, Brilot AF, Pourmal S, Trenker R, Pospiech T, Gupta S, Barsi-Rhyne B, Belyy V, Barile-Hill AW, Nock S, Liu Y, Krogan NJ, Ralston CY, Swaney DL, García-Sastre A, Ott M, Vignuzzi M, QCRG Structural Biology Consortium, Walter P, Manglik A. An ultra-potent synthetic nanobody neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 by stabilizing inactive Spike. Science. 10.1126/science.abe3255, 2020
(PMID : 33154106) (PDF)
Wang L, Walter P. Msp1/ATAD1 in Protein Quality Control and Regulation of Synaptic Activities. Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. 36:141–64, 2020
(PMID : 32886535) (PDF)
Wang L, Myasnikov A, Pan X, Walter P. Structure of the AAA protein Msp1 reveals mechanism of mislocalized membrane protein extraction. eLife 9:e54031, 2020
(PMID : 31999255) (PDF)
Lam M, Marsters S, Ashkenazi A, Walter P. Misfolded proteins bind and activate death receptor 5 to induce apoptosis during unresolved endoplasmic reticulum stress. eLife 9:e52291, 2020
(PMCID : PMC7041945) (PMID : 1904339) (PDF)
Zhu PJ, Khatiwada S, Cui Y, Reineke LC, Dooling SW, Kim JJ, Li Wei, Walter P, Costa-Mattioli M. Activation of the ISR mediates the behavioral and neurophysiological abnormalities in Down syndrome. Science 366:843-849, 2019
(PMID : 31727829) (PDF)
Perlaza K, Toutkoushian H, Boone M, Lam M, Iwai M, Jonikas MC, Walter P, Ramundo S. The Mars1 kinase confers photoprotection through signaling in the chloroplast unfolded protein response. eLife 8:e49577, 2019
(PMID : 31612858) (PDF)
Anand AA, Walter P. Structural insights into ISRIB, a memory-enhancing inhibitor of the integrated stress response. FEBS J. Review. 10.1111/febs.15073, 2019
(PMID : 31550413) (PDF)
Walter P, Mullins D. From symbiont to parasite: the evolution of for-profit science publishing. Mol. Biol. Cell. 30:2537-2542, 2019
(PMCID : PMC6740196) (PMID : 31539315) (PDF)
Torres SE, Gallagher CM, Plate L, Gupta M, Liem CR, Guo X, Tian R, Stroud RM, Kampmann M, Weissman JS, Walter P. Ceapins block the unfolded protein response sensor ATF6α by inducing a neomorphic inter-organelle tether. eLife 8:e46595, 2019
(PMID : 31149896) (PDF)
Cohen N, Breker M, Bakunts A, Pesek K, Chas A, Argemí J, Orsi A, Gal L, Chuartzmann S, Wigelman Y, Jonas F, Walter P, Ernst R, Aragón T, van Anken E, Schuldiner M. Iron affects Ire1 clustering propensity and the amplitude of endoplasmic reticulum stress signaling. J of Cell Sci 130:3222-3233, 2017
(PMID : 28794014) (PDF)
Gallagher C, Walter P. Ceapins inhibit ATF6α signaling by selectively preventing transport of ATF6α to the Golgi apparatus during ER stress. eLife 5:e11880, 2016
(PMCID : 4954756) (PMID : 27435962) (PDF)
Gallagher C, Garri C, Cain E, Ang K, Wilson C, Chen S, Hearn B, Jaishankar P, Aranda-Diaz A, Arkin M, Renslo A, Walter P. Ceapins are a new class of unfolded protein response inhibitors, selectively targeting the ATF6α branch. eLife 5:e11878, 2016
(PMCID : 4954757) (PMID : 27435960) (PDF)
Starck SR, Tsai JC, Chen K, Shodiya M, Wang L, Yahiro K, Martins-Green M, Shastri N, Walter P. Translation from the 5’ untranslated region shapes the integrated stress response. Science 351:6272, 2016
(PMCID : 4882168) (PMID : 26823435) (PDF)
Hearn BR, Jaishankar P, Sidrauski C, Tsai JC, Vedantham P, Fontaine SD, Walter P, Renslo AR. Structure-activity studies of bis-O-arylglycolamides: inhibitors of the integrated stress response. Chem Med Chem 11:870-80, 2016
(PMID : 26789650) (PDF)
Sidrauski C, Acosta-Alvear D, Khoutorsky A, Vedantham P, Hearn B, Li H, Gamache K, Gallagher C, Ang K, Wilson C, Okreglak V, Ashkenazi A, Hann B, Nader K, Arkin M, Renslo A, Sonenberg N, Walter P. Pharmacological brake-release of mRNA translation enhances cognitive memory. eLife 2:e00498, 2013
(PMCID : PMC3667625) (PMID : 23741617) (PDF)
Kimmig P, Diaz M, Zheng J, Williams C, Lang A, Aragón T, Li H, Walter P. The unfolded protein response in fission yeast modulates stability of select mRNAs to maintain protein homeostasis. eLife 1:e00048, 2012
(PMCID : PMC3470409) (PMID : 23066505) (PDF)
Gardner B, Walter P. Unfolded proteins are Ire1-activating ligands that directly induce the unfolded protein response. Science 333:1891-4, 2011
(PMID : 21852455) (PDF)
Walter P. Walking along the serendipitous path of discovery. Mol Biol Cell 1:15-7, 2010
(PMCID : 2801708) (PMID : 20048259) (PDF)
Korennykh A, Egea P, Korostelev A, Finer-Moore J, Zhang C, Shokat K, Stroud R, Walter P. The unfolded protein response signals through high-order assembly of Ire1. Nature 457:687-93, 2008
(PMID : 19079236) (PDF)
Lin J, Li H, Yasumura D, Cohen H, Zhang C, Panning B, Shokat K, Lavail M, Walter P. IRE1 signaling affects cell fate during the unfolded protein response. Science 318:944-9, 2007
(PMID : 17991856) (PDF)