Martin A. Schwartz

I earned my Ph.D. at Stanford University, where I worked with Harden McConnell on biophysics of model membranes. I then did postdoctoral research with Richard Hynes at MIT, where I learned cell biology studying interactions of fibronectin. As an assistant professor in the Department Physiology and Biophysics at Harvard Medical School, my lab was among the first to demonstrate signaling by integrins and the first to report that integrin-mediated adhesion is required for transmission of signals downstream of growth factor receptors. We were the first to show that Rho family GTPases are signaling intermediates on integrin pathways. In the Dept of Vascular Biology at Scripps, we were the first to report that cell adhesion is required for survival of endothelial and other cells. We developed the widely used pull down assay for Rho activity and were the first to show that adhesion regulates Rho activity. Our work also identified the first bona fide mechanotransducer for fluid shear stress in endothelial cells, elucidated the role of extracellular matrix proteins in shear responses in atherosclerosis and tested these ideas in animal models of atherosclerosis. We have also invented and used fluorescence based assays for visualizing signaling events in live cells, including sensors that measure molecular tension across specific proteins.