Coleen T. Murphy, Ph.D.

Current Position

Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Biology and Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University (began July 1, 2005)

Education

  • Postdoctoral Training with C. Kenyon, Ph.D., U.C., San Francisco (2000-05): Longevity Gene Discovery: Microarray Analysis of C. elegans Longevity Mutants.

  • Ph.D., Dept. of Biochemistry, Stanford University, with James A. Spudich, Ph.D. (1993-99): The Role of Variable Loops and the Conserved Core in Myosin Function: Pre- and Steady-State Kinetic Analysis of Dictyostelium Myosin II.

  • B.S., Biochemical and Biophysical Sciences (Chemistry minor), University Honors & Honors in Major, Magna cum Laude, Univ. of Houston, Houston, TX (1992) Crystallization Studies of Apolipoprotein A-II (Senior Honors Thesis)

Grants and fellowships

  • Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences (2006-10)
  • Sloan Research Fellowship (2006-07)
  • Ellison Medical Foundation / Amer. Fed. of Aging Res. Senior Postdoc. Fellowship (2003-05)
  • Life Sciences Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (2000-2003)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute Pre-Doctoral Fellowship (1994-99)

Publications

  • Murphy, C. T., Lee, S.J., and Kenyon, C. (2007); Tissue entrainment by feedback regulation of insulin gene expression in the endoderm of Caenorhabditis elegans." PNAS. 104(48): 19046-50.

  • Shaw, W.M., Luo, S., Landis, J., Ashraf, J., and Murphy, C. T., (2007) “The C. elegans TGF-ß Dauer Pathway Regulates Longevity via Insulin Signaling.” Current Biology, Oct 9;17(19):1634-45.

  • Murphy, C. T. "The Search for DAF-16/FOXO Transcriptional Targets: Approaches and Discoveries." Experimental Gerontology. 41(10): 910-21.

  • Murphy, C. T. "Using Whole-Genome Transcriptional Analyses to Discover Molecular Mechanisms of Aging." (2006) Drug Discovery Today: Disease Mechanisms. 3(1): 41-46.

  • Kenyon, C. and Murphy, C. T., "Enrichment of regulatory motifs upstream of predicted DAF-16 targets." (2006) Nature Genetics 38(4): 397-8.

  • Murphy, C. T. "A Review of Genes that Act Downstream of the DAF-16 FOXO transcription factor to influence the lifespan of C. elegans." Research and Perspectives in Longevity, Longevity and Frailty, Springer, 2005.

  • McCarroll, S. A., Murphy, C. T., et al. "Comparing genomic expression patterns across species identifies shared transcriptional profile in aging." (2004) Nature Genetics 36(2): 197-204.

  • Murphy, C. T., McCarroll, S., Bargmann, C. I., Fraser, A., Kamath, R. S., Ahringer, J., Li, H., Kenyon, C. "Genes that Act Downstream of DAF-16 to Influence the Lifespan of C. elegans." (2003) Nature 424: 277-83. Reviewed in:  News and Views, Nature 424: 259-61.

  • Hsu, A. L., Murphy, C. T., and Kenyon, C. "Regulation of aging and age-related disease by DAF-16 and heat-shock factor." (2003) Science 300: 1142-5.

  • Murphy, C. T., Rock, R. S., and Spudich, J. A. "A Myosin II Mutation Uncouples ATPase activity from Motility and Shortens Step Size." (2001) Nature Cell Biology 3: 311-315.

  • Murphy, C. T. and Spudich, J. A. "Variable Surface Loops and Myosin Activity: Accessories to a Motor," (2000) J. Mus. Res. Cell Mot. 21:139-151.

  • Murphy, C. T. and Spudich, J. A. "The Sequence of the Myosin 50-20K Loop Affects Myosin‘s Affinity for Actin throughout the Actin-Myosin ATPase Cycle and Its Maximum ATPase Activity." (1999) Biochemistry 38 (12): 3785-3792.

  • Murphy, C. T. and Spudich, J. A. "Dictyostelium Myosin 25-50K Loop Substitutions Specifically Affect ADP Release Rates." (1998) Biochemistry 37 (19): 6738-6744.

Honors and Awards

  • Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences, 2006
  • Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar in Aging, 2006 (declined)
  • Sloan Research Fellowship, 2006
  • Finalist, Burroughs-Wellcome Career Awards in the Biomedical Sciences, 2003
  • Ellison Foundation / American Federation for Aging Research Fellowship, 2003
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb Life Sciences Research Fellowship, 2000
  • American Cancer Society Fellowship, 2000 (declined)
  • Howard Hughes Pre-doctoral Fellowship, 1994
  • NSF Pre-doctoral Fellowship, 1994 (declined)
  • Senior Honors Thesis Award, University of Houston, 1992
  • American Chemical Society Undergraduate Award, 1992
  • Rhodes Scholarship Semi-Finalist, 1992
  • Dean's List, University of Houston, 1988-1992
  • Outstanding Student Award, University of Houston German Dept., 1988 and 1989
  • Phi Kappa Phi, Alpha Lambda Delta/Phi Eta Sigma, 1988
  • National Merit Scholar; Kansas State Scholar; Valedictorian, Spring Hill H.S., KS, 1987