Eliezer Calo, PhD

Associate Professor | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
March of Dimes
Eliezer Calo

Eliezer Calo, Associate Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, https://www.calolab.mit.edu/

Biography

Dr. Eliezer Calo is an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research focuses on understanding the assembly and function of the cell's protein synthesis machinery, the ribosome. Defects in ribosome assembly and function lead to birth defects. These defects affect some tissues, but not others. By using zebrafish as a model system, Dr. Calo's research group is starting to unravel the molecular underpinnings by which faulty ribosomes cause disease. Besides performing research, Dr. Calo teaches molecular biology to undergraduate and graduate students and participates in various activities to promote STEM education and outreach.

Education

BS Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras (2005)

PhD Cancer Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2011)

Postdoc Epigenetics, RNA Biology, Development, Stanford University, School of Medicine (2016)

Honors and recognition

Pew Biomedical Scholar, Class of 2019

Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research Award

Charles H. Hood Foundation Child Health Research Award

Irwin and Helen Sizer Career Development Professorship in Biology

Helen Hay Whitney Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship

Selected publications

  1. Jaberi-Lashkari N, Lee B, Aryan F, Calo E. TCOF1 is a single-component scaffold of the nucleolar fibrillar center (in press at Cell Reports) Available from: http://biorxiv.org/lookup/doi/10.1101/2022.10.16.512422
  2. Lee B, Jaberi-Lashkari N, Calo E. A unified view of low complexity regions (LCRs) across species. eLife. 2022 Sep 13;11:e77058. PMID: 36098382
  3. Taylor AM, Macari ER, Chan IT, Blair MC, Doulatov S, Vo LT, Raiser DM, Siva K, Basak A, Pirouz M, Shah AN, McGrath K, Humphries JM, Stillman E, Alter BP, Calo E, Gregory RI, Sankaran VG, Flygare J, Ebert BL, Zhou Y, Daley GQ, Zon LI. Calmodulin inhibitors improve erythropoiesis in Diamond-Blackfan anemia. Sci Transl Med. 2020 Oct 21;12(566):eabb5831. PMID: 33087503
  4. Oyarbide U, Shah AN, Amaya-Mejia W, Snyderman M, Kell M, Allende D, Calo E, Topczewski J, Corey S. Loss of Sbds in zebrafish leads to neutropenia and pancreas and liver atrophy. JCI Insight. 2020 Aug 6; PMID: 32759502
  5. Shao Z, Flynn RA, Crowe JL, Zhu Y, Liang J, Jiang W, Aryan F, Aoude P, Bertozzi CR, Estes VM, Lee BJ, Bhagat G, Zha S, Calo E. DNA-PKcs has KU-dependent function in rRNA processing and haematopoiesis. Nature. 2020;579(7798):291–296. PMID: 32103174
  6. Santoriello C, Sporrij A, Yang S, Flynn RA, Henriques T, Dorjsuren B, Custo Greig E, McCall W, Stanhope ME, Fazio M, Superdock M, Lichtig A, Adatto I, Abraham BJ, Kalocsay M, Jurynec M, Zhou Y, Adelman K, Calo E, Zon LI. RNA helicase DDX21 mediates nucleotide stress responses in neural crest and melanoma cells. Nat Cell Biol. 2020;22(4):372–379. PMCID: PMC7185069
  7. Calo E, Gu B, Bowen ME, Aryan F, Zalc A, Liang J, Flynn RA, Swigut T, Chang HY, Attardi LD, Wysocka J. Tissue-selective effects of nucleolar stress and rDNA damage in developmental disorders. Nature. 2018 Feb 1;554(7690):112–117. PMID: 29364875
  8. Calo E, Flynn RA, Martin L, Spitale RC, Chang HY, Wysocka J. RNA helicase DDX21 coordinates transcription and ribosomal RNA processing. Nature. 2015 Feb 12;518(7538):249–253. PMCID: PMC4827702
  9. Calo E, Quintero-Estades JA, Danielian PS, Nedelcu S, Berman SD, Lees JA. Rb regulates fate choice and lineage commitment in vivo. Nature. 2010 Aug 26;466(7310):1110–1114. PMCID: PMC2933655
  10. Berman SD, Calo E, Landman AS, Danielian PS, Miller ES, West JC, Fonhoue BD, Caron A, Bronson R, Bouxsein ML, Mukherjee S, Lees JA. Metastatic osteosarcoma induced by inactivation of Rb and p53 in the osteoblast lineage. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Aug 19;105(33):11851–11856. PMCID: PMC2575280
  11. Berman SD, Calo E, Landman AS, Danielian PS, Miller ES, West JC, Fonhoue BD, Caron A, Bronson R, Bouxsein ML, Mukherjee S, Lees JA. Metastatic osteosarcoma induced by inactivation of Rb and p53 in the osteoblast lineage. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Aug 19;105(33):11851–11856. PMCID: PMC2575280