Dr Shady Saad
Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Stanford University
Dr Shady Saad
Dr Shady Saad
About
Saad is a Human Frontier Science Program postdoctoral research in the department of chemical and systems biology at Stanford University. He holds a PhD in biochemistry from ETH Zurich.
Current research
Saad is studying cellular quality control regulating polyQ rich proteins. These proteins are responsible for a group of neurodegenerative diseases. His main interest is in understanding how physiologically occurring polyQ proteins are protected by cellular machineries from aberrant aggregation.
Future research vision
Saad is broadly interested in proteins that can form assemblies in the cell. One can look for this phenomenon as an additional layer to the central dogma allowing more diverse functions for the proteome. He will focus on understanding the regulation of physiological assemblies, their functional consequences and mechanisms that lead to dysfunction and degenerative diseases.
Key publications

Cereghetti, G et al. Reversible amyloids of pyruvate kinase couple cell metabolism and stress granule disassembly. Nature Cell Biology, 2021.

Grignaschi, E et al. A hydrophobic low-complexity region regulates aggregation of the yeast pyruvate kinase Cdc19 into amyloid-like aggregates in vitro. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2018.

Cereghetti, G et al. Reversible, functional amyloids: towards an understanding of their regulation in yeast and humans. Cell Cycle, 2018.

Saad, S et al. Reversible protein aggregation is a protective mechanism to ensure cell cycle restart after stress. Nature Cell Biology, 2017.

Dechant, R et al. Cytosolic pH regulates cell growth through distinct GTPases, Arf1 and Gtr1, to promote Ras/PKA and TORC1 activity. Molecular Cell, 2014.

Key awards

Long-term Postdoctoral Fellowship, Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP).

Postdoctoral Fellowship, Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

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