Dr. John Aitchison is an affiliate faculty member at the Institute for Systems Biology. He also holds an appointment at Seattle Children’s Research Institute as Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Global Infectious Disease Research. As a student, he studied biochemistry, specializing in biotechnology and genetic engineering at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. There, in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Rachubinski, he investigated the molecular mechanisms responsible for sorting proteins into peroxisomes. After receiving his PhD, Dr. Aitchison performed his postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Dr. Günter Blobel at Rockefeller University. In Dr. Blobel’s lab, Dr. Aitchison applied classic cell biology techniques and yeast genetics to the study of protein import into the nucleus. During this time, he began to apply large-scale proteomics to the problem, which he continued as an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta until joining the ISB in 2000. Dr. Aitchison also holds affiliate appointments at the University of Washington, University of Alberta, and University of British Columbia and Rockefeller University. He is a member of the Molecular and Cellular Biology and Biomolecular Structural Design Graduate Programs at the University of Washington.

Since joining ISB in 2000, his laboratory has been exploiting systems-based assays and analyses to reveal and understand complex biological phenomena. Over the past ten years, his lab has focused on yeast as a model for developing systems biology approaches. At the Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, his lab is focused on enhancing our collective exposure to, and education in research of infectious diseases. With his position at ISB, he will remain at the cutting-edge of systems biology while bringing new developments to infectious disease research at Seattle Children’s Research Institute.