Dr. Ryan Weiss received his B.S. in chemistry in 2008 at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, CA. He then received his Ph.D. in chemistry in 2015 at the University of California, San Diego, under the supervision of Prof. Yitzhak Tor. He then moved to the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, where he worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Jeffrey Esko’s group. Dr. Weiss started his independent career as an assistant professor at the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center at the University of Georgia starting in January 2021. His current research interests include drug discovery and using genomic tools to understand the regulation of glycosylation in human diseases.
Education
Point Loma Nazarene University, B.S. (2008)
University of California San Diego, Ph.D. (2015)
Research
Glycosylation plays a variety of roles in basic biological processes, and alterations in these carbohydrate structures contribute to many human diseases. The mammalian glycome contains extensive structural and functional heterogeneity that can vary temporally and spatially during development and in different tissues. However, regulation of the assembly of these ubiquitous, non-template driven post-translational modifications is currently poorly understood. Research in the Weiss Laboratory aims to identify the molecular mechanisms responsible for genetic regulation of glycosylation in mammalian cells. In particular, we are focused on identifying the transcriptional and epigenetic programs responsible for temporal and spatial control of glycosylation using genome-wide, molecular, and genetic approaches. Our ultimate goal is to utilize these discoveries to identify novel drugs and drug targets for treatment of relevant human diseases.
