Kate Alfieri, PhD

Director of Res Dev & Training
Biography: 

Dr. Kate Alfieri is the Director of Research Development and Training in the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care. She is the primary scientific advisor to the Vice Chair for Research and develops, implements, and evaluates initiatives to address faculty and trainee research needs. Before joining UCSF, Kate was the Scientific Program Manager at the Stanford ChEM-H Institute, where she developed and managed interdisciplinary programs aimed to advance research and training at the interface of chemistry, engineering, and medicine.

Kate received her B.S. in Chemistry with a concentration in Biochemistry from Haverford College and her Ph.D. in Chemistry, studying cell signaling at membrane interfaces, in the lab of Dr. Jay T. Groves at UC Berkeley. She is passionate about diversity in STEM, science communication and outreach, and mentorship in science.

Publications: 
Lin JJ, O'Donoghue GP, Wilhelm KB, Coyle MP, Low-Nam ST, Fay NC, Alfieri KN, Groves JT. Membrane Association Transforms an Inert Anti-TCRβ Fab' Ligand into a Potent T Cell Receptor Agonist. Biophys J. 2020 06 16; 118(12):2879-2893.
Lin JJY, Low-Nam ST, Alfieri KN, McAffee DB, Fay NC, Groves JT. Mapping the stochastic sequence of individual ligand-receptor binding events to cellular activation: T cells act on the rare events. Sci Signal. 2019 01 15; 12(564).
Pielak RM, O'Donoghue GP, Lin JJ, Alfieri KN, Fay NC, Low-Nam ST, Groves JT. Early T cell receptor signals globally modulate ligand:receptor affinities during antigen discrimination. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 11 14; 114(46):12190-12195.
Alfieri KN, Vienneau AR, Londergan CH. Using infrared spectroscopy of cyanylated cysteine to map the membrane binding structure and orientation of the hybrid antimicrobial peptide CM15. Biochemistry. 2011 Dec 27; 50(51):11097-108.
Smith MH, Miles TF, Sheehan M, Alfieri KN, Kokona B, Fairman R. Polyglutamine fibrils are formed using a simple designed beta-hairpin model. Proteins. 2010 Jun; 78(8):1971-9.
McMahon HA, Alfieri KN, Clark KA, Londergan CH. Cyanylated Cysteine: A Covalently Attached Vibrational Probe of Protein-Lipid Contacts. J Phys Chem Lett. 2010 Mar 04; 1(5):850-855.
Honors and Awards: 
Graduate Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation, 2010