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CBIS 3244B
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royerc@rpi.edu
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(518) 276-3796
- 0000-0002-2670-3391
About
Dr. Royer obtained her Bachelors (Licence) degree in 1979 at the University of Pierre and Marie Curie - Paris 6 in Biochemistry and Chemistry. She obtained her Ph.D. in 1985 in the Department of Biochemistry in the School of Chemical Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the direction of Professor Gregorio Weber. She carried out postdoctoral studies at the University of Paris 7, the CNRS at Gif-sur-Yvette and at LURE under the direction of Bernard Alpert, Guy Hervé and Jean-Claude Brochon. She then took a position as User Coordinator and Research Physicist at the Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics in the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign. In 1990 she moved to an Assistant Professorship in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 1995. In 1997 she took the position of INSERM Director of Research in the Center for Structural Biochemistry in Montpellier France where, in 2002, she became Associate Director of the institute and in 2007, Director. In 2013 She moved to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a Professor of Biological Sciences and chaired Constellation Professor in Bioinformatics and Biocomputation.
Ph.D. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1985 - Biochemistry
Licence (B.S.) Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 1979 - Biochemistry and Chemistry
Postdoctoral Research & Training
Postdoctoral Associate, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, CRNS, 1986-1987
Research
My research aims at understanding the molecular basis for biological function in two main areas. The first involves understanding how amino acid sequence controls protein structural dynamics using pressure perturbation combined with state-of-the-art biophysical techniques. This is important information for protein design strategies for bio-pharmaceutics and for bio-engineering applications, as well as for understanding the evolution of protein sequences and life in extreme environments. The second area of research that I pursue involves characterizing, quantitatively, the protein interactions implicated in the regulation of gene expression. Currently we are trying to understand the links between cell growth and division in the model organism, budding yeast by applying advanced quantitative microscopy approaches. Understanding what drives cells to divide is important for understanding and developing therapeutic strategies for the treatment of many diseases, including cancer.
Pressure effects on biomolecules, protein folding, protein interaction networks, live cell quantitative fluorescence imaging, transcription regulation, molecular evolution
Teaching
By appointment
BCBP 4800/6800 - Methods in Biophysics
Biophysics addresses the physical principles of biological function, which requires the application of physical methods. The focus of this course is on methods used to study the interactions and dynamics of biomolecules in vitro, primarily proteins and nucleic acids. Both the theoretical and methodological aspects of molecular biophysical methods will be covered. This course is designed as an interdisciplinary introduction to the field and is open to students in biology, chemistry, physics, or engineering.
Recognition
Fellow of the Biophysical Society – 2023
Reinhart Endowed Lecturer – Texas A&M University October 2021
President – Biophysical Society 2021
Program co-Chair Proteins Gordon Conference – 2017
Program co-Chair Biophysical Society Meeting – 2017
PES – Prime pour l’Excellence Scientifique – INSERM – 2012
Elected Fellow – American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2000
Teacher of the Year – University of Wisconsin Madison School of Pharmacy 1993, 1994
Whitaker Foundation Young Investigator Award in Bio-Engineering 1992
NIH FIRST Award – 1988
NSF-CNRS Postdoctoral Fellow – 1985-1986
Publications
2024
Goswami, P., Ghimire, A., Coffin, C., Cheng, J., Coulombe-Huntington, J., Ghazal, G., Thattikota, Y., Tyers, M., Tollis, S. & Royer, C.A. Swi4-dependent SWI4 transcription couples cell size to cell cycle commitment, iScience, (accepted, 12/2024).
Coffin, C., Fisher, L.A. Bartlett, D.H. & Royer, C.A. Response and Adaptation of the Transcriptional Heat Shock Response to Pressure, Frontiers in Microbio., 15, (2024). DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1470617
Koduru, T., Hantman, N., Peters, E. V., Jaworek, M. W., Wang, J., Zhang, S., McCallum, S. A. Gillilan, R. E., Fossat, M. J., Roumestand, C., Sagar, A., Winter, R., Bernadó, P., Cherfils J. & Royer, C.A., A molten globule ensemble primes Arf1-GDP for the nucleotide switch, PNAS, 121, e2413100121. (2024).
2023
Wang, J., Koduru, T., Harish, B., McCallum, S.A., Larsen, K.P., Patel, K.S., Peters, E.V., Gillilan, R.E., Puglisi, E.V., Puglisi, J., Makhatadze, G. & Royer, C.A., Pressure pushes tRNALys3 into excited conformational states, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 120, e2215556120. (2023)
Royer, C.A., Tyers, M. and Tollis, S. Absolute Quantification of Proteins in Single Cells Current Opinion in Structural Biology 82, 102673 (2023).
Mazzei, L., Greene-Cramer, R., Bafna, K., Jovanovic, A., De Falco, A, Royer, C.A., Ciurli, S., and Montelione, G.T., Protocol for production and purification of SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro, Star Protocols, 4, 102326 (2023).
2022
Zhang, S., McCallum, S.A., Gillilan, R.E., Wang, J. & Royer, C.A., High pressure CPMG and CEST reveal that cavity position dictates distinct dynamic disorder in the pp32 repeat protein, J. Phys. Chem. B. 126, 10597-10607 (2022).
Harish, B., Wang, J., Hayden, E.J., Grabe, B., Hiller, W, Winter, R. & Royer, C.A., Hidden intermediates in Mango III RNA aptamer folding revealed by pressure perturbation, Biophys. J., 121, 421-429 (2022).
Tollis, S., Singh, J., Palou, R., Thattikota, Y., Ghazal, G., Coulombe-Huntington, J., Tang, X., Moore, S., Blake, D., Bonneil, E., Royer, C.A., Thibault, P. & Tyers, M., The microprotein Nrs1 rewires the G1/S transcriptional machinery during nitrogen limitation in budding yeast, PLoS Biology 20, e3001548 (2022).
Colman, D.R., Labesse, G., Swapna, G.V.T., Stefanakis, J. Montelione, G.T., Boyd, E.S. & Royer, C.A., Structural evolution of the ancient enzyme, Dissimilatory Sulfite Reductase, Proteins: Struct. Func. Bioinformatics 90, 1331-1345 (2022).
Litsios, A., Goswami, P., Terpstra, H.M., Coffin, C., Vuillemenot, L.-A., Rovetta, M., Ghazal, G., Guerra, P., Buczac, K., Schmidt, A., Tollis, S. Tyers, M.T., Royer, C.A., Milas-Argeitis, A. & Heinemann, M., The timing of Start is determined primarily by increased synthesis of the Cln3 activator rather than dilution of the Whi5 inhibitor, Mol. Biol. Cell. 33, rp2 (2022).
2021
Harish, B., Gillilan, R.E., Zou, J., Wang, J., Raleigh, D.P. & Royer, C. A. Protein unfolded states populated at high and ambient pressure are similarly compact, Biophys. J. 120, 2592-2598 (2021).
Bafna, K., White, K., Harish, B., Rosales, R., Ramelot, T.A., Acton, T.B., Moreno, E., Kehrer, T., Miorin, L., Royer, C.A., Garcia-Sastre, A., Krug, R.M., & Montelione, G.T. HCV drugs that inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease synergize with remdesivir to suppress viral replication in cell culture, Cell Reports, 35, 109133 (2021).
Ando, N., Barquera, B., Bartlett, D., Boyd, E., Burnim, A.A., Byer, A.S., Colman, D., Gillilan, R.E., Gruebele, M., Makhatadze, G., Royer, C.A.*, Shock, E., Wand, A.J. & Watkins, M.B. The molecular basis for life in extreme environments, Ann. Rev. Biophys., 50, 343-372 (2021).
Bourges A.C., Torres-Montaguth, O.E., Tadesse, W., Labesse, G., Aertsen, A., Royer, C.A & Declerck, N. An oligomeric switch controls the Mrr-induced SOS Response in E. coli, DNA Repair, 97, 103009, 2021.
2020
Bourges, A., A. Lazarev, N. Declerck, K.L. Rogers, and C. Royer. 2020. Quantitative high-resolution imaging of live microbial cells at high hydrostatic pressure. Biophys. J. 118, 2670-2679 (2020).
Black, L., Tollis, S., Fu, G., Fiche, J.-B., Dorsey, S., Cheng, J., Notley, S., Crevier, B., Bigness, J., Nollmann, M., Tyers, M. and Royer, C. A.G1/S transcription factors assemble in discrete clusters that increase in number as cells grow, J. Cell. Biol. 219, e202003041 (2020). 10.1083/jcb.202003041
2019
Zhang, S., Zhang, Y., Stenzoski, N., Zou, J., Peran, I., McCallum, S.A., Raleigh, D. & Royer, C.A. Pressure-Temperature Analysis of the Stability of the CTL9 Domain Reveals Hidden Intermediates Folding Intermediates of CTL9, Biophys. J. 116, 445-453 (2019).
Roche, J., Royer, C.A. & Roumestand, C., Exploring protein conformational landscapes using high pressure NMR, Methods Enz., 614, 293-320 (2019).
2018
Jenkins, K.A., Fossat, M.J., Zhang, S., Rai, D.K., Klein, S. Gillilan, R., White, Z., Gerlich, G., McCallum, S.A., Winter, R., Gruner, S.M., Barrick, D.& Royer, C.A. Consequences of Cavities on the Folding Landscape of a Repeat Protein Depend Upon Context, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 115(35): E8153-E8161 (2018).
Knop, J.-M., Harish, B. Patra, S., Royer, C.A. & Winter, R., The Deep Sea Osmolyte TMAO and Macromolecular Crowders Rescue the Antiparallel Conformation of the Human Telomeric G-Quadruplex from Urea and Pressure Stress, Chemistry - A European Journal, 24, 14346-14351 (2018).
Møller, T.C., Hottin, J., Clerté, C., Zwier, J.M., Durroux, T., Rondard, P., Prézeau, L., Royer, C.A., Pin, J.-P., Margeat, E. & Kniazeff, J. Oligomerization of a G protein-coupled receptor in neurons controlled by its structural dynamics, Sci. Reports 8, 10414, (2018).
Dorsey, S., Tollis, S., Cheng, J., Black, L., Notley, S., Tyers, M. and Royer, C. A. G1/S Transcription Factor Copy Number is a Growth-Dependent Determinant of Cell Cycle Commitment in Yeast, Cell Systems, 6, 539+, (2018).
Andra, KK, Dorsey, A, Royer, C, Menon, AK Structural mapping of fluorescently-tagged, functional nhTMEM16 scramblase in a lipid bilayer, J. Biol. Chem., RA118. 003648 (2018).
The following is a selection of recent publications in Scopus. Catherine Royer has 170 indexed publications in the subjects of Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Medicine, Chemistry.