Cornell taps Linder to chair Department of Molecular Medicine

Ithaca, N.Y.

-- Cornell University's veterinary college named Dr. Maurine E. Linder to chair its Department of Molecular Medicine. The appointment begins on July 1.

"I am extremely pleased that Maurine, a superb scientist with an international reputation in cell signaling, has decided to join the College as chair of the Department of Molecular Medicine," says Michael I. Kotlikoff, Austin O. Hooey Dean of Veterinary Medicine in a prepared statement.

Linder will lead the department of approximately 45 faculty and staff and pursue research in cell signaling, cell biology and cancer biology. As the chair, Linder will oversee the department's interdisciplinary programs with Cornell's new Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology and Weill Medical College, and revitalize the graduate field of pharmacology, the university says.

Linder leaves Washington University School of Medicine, where she is the director of the Molecular Cell Biology Graduate Program and professor of cell biology and physiology. Her research is focused on understanding the mechanisms that regulate the localization of signaling proteins, processes that are key to the ability of cells to respond appropriately to signals from the environment.

Linder's research group is currently characterizing a family of enzymes that mediate palmitoylation, the reversible attachment of the lipid palmitate to membrane proteins, the university says. Aberrant functions of palmitoyltransferases have been implicated in oncogenesis and metastasis, as well as several disorders of the nervous system.

Linder replaces Dr. Gregory Weiland, associate professor of pharmacology, who has led the department since 1998.