Marilyn D. Resh, PhD, is an Emeritus Member of the Cell Biology Program of the Sloan Kettering Institute. She is a cell biologist and biochemist who is internationally recognized for her studies demonstrating how attachment of fats to proteins regulates protein structure and function.
Dr. Resh’s research focused on proteins modified with the fats myristate and/or palmitate: Src family tyrosine kinases, HIV-1 Gag, Hedgehog, and Wnt proteins. Her lab defined the molecular mechanisms responsible for fatty acylation and membrane insertion for these fatty acylated proteins. Dr. Resh identified a novel “myristate + basic” membrane-binding motif within Src and HIV-1 Gag, discovered that other Src family kinases are dually fatty acylated with both myristate and palmitate, and showed that HIV-1 Gag undergoes reversible membrane binding via a “myristoyl switch” mechanism. Her lab established that the multipass membrane protein Hedgehog acyltransferase (Hhat) is responsible for attaching an essential palmitate to Hedgehog proteins, and identified Hhat inhibitors, which are being developed for therapeutic treatment of Hedgehog-driven cancers.
She was a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences, a Rita Allen Foundation Scholar, an Established Scientist of the American Heart Association, and a recipient of the Boyer Research Award. She also served as a member of multiple National Institutes of Health (NIH) Study Section grant review panels, and as a member of the Editorial Boards of The Journal of Biological Chemistry and Journal of Virology.
Dr. Resh received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, where she graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Biochemistry. She earned a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from Harvard University and continued as a Postdoctoral Fellow in cell biology at Harvard. Dr. Resh returned to Princeton in 1986 to start her own independent laboratory and was recruited to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 1991. She was a Member in the Cell Biology Program of the Sloan Kettering Institute.