Suzanne Pfeffer: Sorting through membrane trafficking

S uzanne Pfeffer always wanted to know what makes the human body tick. In many respects, we're still working on deciphering the fi rst page of the body's operating manual—which Pfeffer says is fi ne, since it means there's plenty of room for new discoveries. Pfeffer had her fi rst publication as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley (1), which got her hooked on the spirit of scientifi c inquiry. Following stints studying synaptic vesicles as a graduate student with Regis Kelly at UCSF (2), and Golgi transport as a postdoc with Jim Rothman at Stanford (3), she developed her own research program studying the proteins and processes that govern intracellular transport of proteins and membranes (4). Her work documenting the mechanisms of mannose-6-phosphate receptor transport from endosomes to Golgi has established some of the fundamental principles of membrane traffi cking (5, 6). Pfeffer's contributions to cell biology don't end in the laboratory, having served the scientifi c community as president of the American Society for Cell Biology. Pfeffer was also the fi rst female faculty member appointed in the biochemistry department at Stanford. She talked with us about the story of her career and what she expects to fi nd on the next page, as new technologies open up fresh chapters. When did you fi rst become interested in science? Even as a child, I was always interested in human physiology. I went to UC Berkeley for college, and as a freshman I learned what biochemistry was: trying to understand human physiology in terms of what molecules are involved. I knew immediately that I wanted to do that as a career, so I got involved in some research there. I was very lucky to have a dedicated mentor, Michael Chamberlin, for my research at Berkeley. He worked on bacterial transcription , and he really took the time to show me how to write a protocol, how to design an experiment. Basically, I became a graduate student while I was an under-grad. I was in the laboratory every day doing experiments after class, and I just loved it. I think every scientist has this experience, when you come out of the darkroom and the fi lm has the answer that you wouldn't have known fi ve minutes earlier—an " aha! " moment. Once you have that experience, there's no turning back. I had my " aha! " moment, and was able …