Walter Lab

Diego Acosta-Alvear

Alumni Postdoctoral Fellow

Scientific Interest

Wiring of the unfolded protein response in normal cells and in disease.

Current Research Interests

– Study protein-RNA interactions operating during the ER stress response employing next generation sequencing coupled to biochemistry and cell biology methods.
– Study the re-wiring of the unfolded protein response in cancer cells employing ultra complex shRNA libraries to discover genetic vulnerabilities.

Former Lab Affiliations

2003-2008 Dr. Brian Dynlacht – Graduate Student, New York University

Education

2008 Ph.D Biomedical Sciences – New York University,
2005 M.S. Biomedical Sciences – New York University,
2002 M.S. Biological Sciences – Universidad de los Andes,
2001 B.S. Biological Sciences – Universidad de los Andes,

Selected Publications

Tufanli O, Telkoparan-Akillilar P, Acosta-Alvear D, Kocaturk B, Onata UI, Hamida SM, Cimen I, Walter P, Weber C, Erbay E. Targeting IRE1 with small molecules counteracts progression of atherosclerosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci, 114:E1395-E1404, 2017
(PMCID : 5338400) (PMID : 28137856) (PDF)
Peschek J, Acosta-Alvear D, Mendez AS, Walter P. A conformational RNA zipper promotes intron ejection during non‐conventional XBP1 mRNA splicing. EMBO Rep 16:1688–1698, 2015
(PMCID : 4687415) (PMID : 26483401) (PDF)
Li X, Colvin T, Rauch JN, Acosta-Alvear D, Kampmann M, Dunyak B, Hann B, Aftab BT, Murnane M, Cho M, Walter P, Weissman JS, Sherman MY, Gestwicki JE. Validation of the Hsp70-Bag3 protein-protein interaction as a potential therapeutic target in cancer. Mol Cancer Ther 14:642-8, 2015
(PMCID : 4456214) (PMID : 25564440) (PDF)
Mendez A, Alfaro J, Morales-Soto MA, Dar AC, McCullagh E, Gotthardt K, Li H, Acosta-Alvear D, Sidrauski C, Korennykh AV, Bernales S, Shokat KM, Walter P. Endoplasmic reticulum stress-independent activation of unfolded protein response kinases by a small molecule ATP-mimic. eLife 4:e07314, 2015
(PMCID : PMC4436593) (PMID : 25875391) (PDF)
Acosta-Alvear D, Cho M, Wild T, Buchholz TJ, Lerner AG, Simakova O, Hahn J, Korde N, Landgren O, Maric I, Choudhary C, Walter P, Weissman JS, Kampmann M. Paradoxical resistance of multiple myeloma to proteasome inhibitors by decreased levels of 19S proteasomal subunits. eLife 4:e08153, 2015
(PMCID : PMC4602331) (PMID : 26327686) (PDF)
Lu M, Lawrence D, Marsters S, Acosta-Alvear D, Kimmig P, Mendez A, Paton A, Paton J, Walter P, Ashkenazi A. Opposing unfolded-protein-response signals converge on death receptor 5 to control apoptosis. Science 345:98-101, 2014
(PMCID : PMC4163648) (PMID : 24994655) (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)
Behrman S, Acosta-Alvear D, Walter P. A CHOP-regulated microRNA controls rhodopsin expression. J Cell Biol 192:919-27, 2010
(PMID : 21402790) (PDF)