Faculty at School of Natural Sciences
Vivek Malhotra
Distinguished Professor (Visiting)
School of Natural Sciences
Contact Information
In his early research, Malhotra explored the partitioning of the Golgi complex during cell division. Through a systematic search for pharmacological agents, he discovered Ilimaquinone (IQ), which induces Golgi vesiculation, mimicking the mitotic state. Investigating IQ's mechanism of action, Malhotra uncovered a novel pathway for vesicle biogenesis, where a kinase signaling cascade activates phospholipase, leading to the generation of diacylglycerol, thus driving vesicle budding—pioneering the concept of variable-sized vesicle formation. Recognizing the need for mechanisms accommodating large cargo in the secretory pathway, Malhotra conducted genome-wide screens, revealing the role of the TANGO1 gene family in selectively sorting and packaging bulky cargoes like collagens and chylomicrons for ER export. His exploration of TANGO's mechanism solved the longstanding challenge of accommodating cargoes larger than conventional COPII vesicles, introducing the concept of "made-to-measure" export routes. Malhotra's ingenuity extended to identifying mutations in TANGO1, directly correlating with reduced collagen secretion and resulting in significant clinical manifestations such as dwarfism and severe skeletal abnormalities. Recently, Malhotra pioneered a strategy targeting TANGO1 in hyper collagen-secreting dermal cells of scleroderma patients, offering promising avenues for alleviating skin scarring. Another TANGO gene, TANGO2, has recently been shown by Malhotra to control fatty acid metabolism. Mutations in TANGO2 lead to rhabdomyolysis, paroxysmal dystonia, and a foundation is now dedicated to addressing this devastating human pathology (https://tango2research.org). Malhotra has identified genes regulating mucin secretion quantity, linking their misexpression to ulcerative colitis. Malhotra also uncovered a new pathway where cells secrete antioxidants and cytokines independently of the conventional ER-Golgi route.
| Degree / Position | Department / Institution | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| B.Sc | Biochemistry Department, Stirling University | 1978 – 1982 |
| D.Phil | Biochemistry Department, Oxford University | 1982 – 1985 |
| Postdoctoral Fellow | Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University | 1985 – 1990 |
| Position | Department / Institution | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Assistant Professor | Biology Department, UC San Diego | 1990 – 1995 |
| Associate Professor (Tenured) | Biology Department, UCSD | 1995 – 1999 |
| Professor | Cell and Developmental Biology Department, UCSD | 1999 – 2008 |
| Chair and ICREA Professor | Cell Biology, CRG | 2008 – Present |
| Adjunct Professor | Cell Biology Department, Yale University, USA | 2019 – Present |
| Adjunct Professor | National Centre for Biological Sciences, India | 2014 – Present |
| Award / Fellowship / Recognition | Duration |
|---|---|
| Pirie-Reid Scholar, Oxford University | 1982–1985 |
| Damon-Runyon Walter-Winchell Post-doctoral Fellow | 1985–1987 |
| American Cancer Society Senior Post-doctoral Fellow | 1988–1990 |
| Basil O'Connor Scholars Award | 1992–1995 |
| Established Investigator of the American Heart Association | 1995–2000 |
| Senior Investigator, Sandler Foundation for Asthma | 2004–2007 |
| Elected Fellow, AAAS | 2005 |
| Elected Member, EMBO | 2009 |
| ASBMB Merck Award | 2013 |
| ERC Advanced Grant | 2010–2016 |
| Miller Visiting Professor Fellowship, UC Berkeley, USA | 2016 |
| ASCB Lifetime Fellow, USA | 2018 |
| NGBT Excellence in Science Award, India | 2019 |
| Humboldt Research Award, Germany | 2020 |
| Red Bird Visiting Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies, HKUST, Hong Kong | 2023 |
| ERC Synergy Grant | 2021–2027 |
| Elected Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences | 2024 |
| Westlake University Distinguished Fellow (China) | 2025 |
| Vajra Distinguished Fellow (India) | 2025–2027 |
| Meeting / Role | Location | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Juan March Meeting ‘Membrane Fusion’ | Madrid, Spain | 1997 |
| Chair, Organizing Committee, ASCB | — | 2003 |
| The Golgi Meeting | Barcelona, Spain | 2009 |
| ASBMB Meeting – The Biochemistry of Membrane Traffic | USA | 2010 |
| EMBO Global Exchange Course | NCBS, Bangalore, India | 2010 |
| EMBO–India Young Investigator Meeting | CRG, Barcelona | 2017 |
| EMBO Meeting – Unconventional Protein Secretion | Perugia, Italy | 2019 |
| Areces Foundation – Proteostasis and Protein Secretion | Spain | 2019 |
| Membrane Trafficking – Mechanism & Physiology | HKUST, Hong Kong | 2023 |
| EMBO Lecture Series | India | 2024 |
| Symposium – Epithelial Transport | Seoul, Korea | 2024 |
| Committee / Role | Year(s) |
|---|---|
| Member, NIH Study Section – Cell Biology and Physiology-1 | 1995–1999 |
| Scientific Advisory Committee, Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation | 2003; 2006–2007 |
| Review Board, CSIC Institutes, Spain | 2009 |
| EMBO Meeting Organizing Committee | 2010–2011 |
| Scientific Advisory Board, CNR, Naples, Italy | 2011–2017 |
| Scientific Advisory Board, CBMSO, Madrid, Spain | 2011–2020 |
| Scientific Advisory Board, CABIMER, Spain | 2014–2023 |
| Scientific Advisory Board, DBT, India | 2015–2018 |
| Jury, Infosys Award, India | 2018 |
| EMBO Fellowship Committee | 2020–2023 |
Takizawa, P.A., Yucel, J.K., Veit, B., Faulkner, D.J., Deerinck, T., Soto, C., Ellisman, M. and Malhotra, V. Complete vesiculation of Golgi membranes and inhibition of protein transport by a novel sea sponge metabolite, Ilimaquinone. Cell 73: 1079-1091 (1993).
Acharya, U., Mallabiabarrena, A., Acharya, J.K., and Malhotra, V. Signaling via
Mitogen activated protein kinase is required for Golgi fragmentation during mitosis. Cell 92: 183-192 (1998).
Jamora, C., Yamanouye, N., Trowbridge, I., Lint, J.V., Lauudenslager. J.R., Faulkner,D.J., and Malhotra, V. Gßy induced Golgi breakdown in through the activation of protein kinase D. Cell 98: 59-68 (1999).
Baron, C.L. and Malhotra, V. Role of Diacylglycerol in PKD recruitment to the TGN and protein transport to the plasma membrane. Science. 295: 325-328 (2001).
Bard, F., Casano, L., Mallabiabarrena, A., Wallace, E., Dasgupta, R., Perrimon, N., and Malhotra, V. Functional analysis of the drosophila genome reveals new components involved in protein secretion and Golgi organization. Nature 439: 604-607 (2006).
Kinseth, M.A., Anjard, C., Fuller, D., Guizzunti, G., Loomis, W.F., and Malhotra, V. The Golgi-associated protein GRASP is required for unconventional protein secretion during development. Cell 130: 524-534 (2007).
Saito, K., Chen, M., Bard, F., Chen, S., Woodley, D., Polischuk, R., Schekman, R., and Malhotra. V. Tango1 facilitates cargo loading at endoplasmic reticulum exit sites. Cell 136: 891-902 (2009).
Raote, I., Bellido, M., Santos, A., Foresti, O., Zhang, C., Parajo, M., Campelo, F and Malhotra, V. TANGO1 builds a machine for collagen export by recruiting and spatially organizing COPII, tethers and membranes. Elife. Mar 7;7. pii: e32723. doi: 10.7554/eLife.32723. [Epub ahead of print] (2018).
Cantero-Recasens, G., Burballa, C., Ohkawa,Y., TFukuda, T., Harada, Y IBD Character Consortium., Curwin, A., Brouwers, N., Gian, A., Gu, J., Gut, I., Taniguchi, N, and Malhotra, V. The ulcerative colitis associated gene FUT8 regulates the quantity and quality of secreted mucins. 2022. 119(43):e2205277119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2205277119. Epub 2022 Oct 17.PMID: 36252012
Ishier Raote., …and Malhotra, V. TANGO1 inhibitors reduce collagen secretion and limit tissue scarring. Nat. Commun. 2024 Apr 24;15(1):3302. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-47004-1.PMID: 38658535
| Lecture / Keynote / Event | Location | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Frontiers in Science Program | Stanford University, USA | 2010 |
| Keynote Speaker, Curie-Pasteur Symposium | Paris, France | 2011 |
| Keynote Speaker, Annexins in Protein Transport | Barcelona, Spain | 2011 |
| Ferris Lecture | Yale University, USA | 2011 |
| Merck Award Lecture, ASBMB | Boston, USA | 2013 |
| ASCB Symposium – Keynote Speaker | USA | 2013 |
| Keynote, The Matrix Biology Society | Cologne (Köln), Germany | 2017 |
| Keynote, 18th Annual Pittsburgh Symposium on Membrane Traffic | USA | 2019 |
| Keynote, Membrane Trafficking | HKUST, Hong Kong | 2023 |
| Federico Leighton Plenary Lecture | Chile | 2024 |
| Keynote, CSHL Asia Meeting | Suzhou, China | 2025 |
| Keynote, Endoplasmic Reticulum Health and Disease | Paris, France | 2025 |
| Editorial Role | Year(s) |
|---|---|
| Cell | 1995–2001 |
| Associate Editor, Molecular Biology of the Cell | 1999–2011 |
| Journal of Cell Biology | 2007–Present |
| Current Opinion in Cell Biology | 2009–2015 |
| Reviewing Editor, eLife | 2012–2014 |
| Senior Editor, eLife | 2014–2023 |
| Meeting / Role | Location | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Juan March Meeting ‘Membrane Fusion’ | Madrid, Spain | 1997 |
| Chair, Organizing Committee, ASCB | — | 2003 |
| The Golgi Meeting | Barcelona, Spain | 2009 |
| ASBMB Meeting – The Biochemistry of Membrane Traffic | USA | 2010 |
| EMBO Global Exchange Course | NCBS, Bangalore, India | 2010 |
| EMBO–India Young Investigator Meeting | CRG, Barcelona | 2017 |
| EMBO Meeting – Unconventional Protein Secretion | Perugia, Italy | 2019 |
| Areces Foundation – Proteostasis and Protein Secretion | Spain | 2019 |
| Membrane Trafficking – Mechanism & Physiology | HKUST, Hong Kong | 2023 |
| EMBO Lecture Series | India | 2024 |
| Symposium – Epithelial Transport | Seoul, Korea | 2024 |
Postdoctoral mentees:
Julia von Blume (Tenured Associate Professor at Yale University, USA), Christine Sutterlin (Professor at the University of California, Irvine), Kota Saito (Professor at Akita University, Japan), Fred Bard (CNRS Professor at CRCM, Marseille, France), Adam Linstedt (Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, USA), Gerard Cantero-Recesans (Group Leader at Vall D’Hebron Research Institute, Barcelona), Julien Villeneuve (CNRS Professor at IFG, Montpellier), Felix Campelo (Group leader UPF, Barcelona), Ishier Raote (CNRS Professor at Institute Jacques-Monod, Paris, France), Antonio Colanzi (Principal Investigator at CNR, Italy), Caroline Denesvre (Assistant Professor at Universite-Rabelais, France), Hitoshi Kityama (Associate Professor at the University of Kyoto, Japan), Yusuke Maeda (Professor at Osaka University, Japan), Jean Ripoche (Professor at INSERM, Bordeaux, France), Yuichi Wakana (Associate Professor at Tokyo College of Pharmacy), Mariora Chiritoiu (Assistant Professor at Romanian Academy Inst, Romania), Sandra Mitrovic (Group Leader at Basel Univ. Hospital, Switzerland), and Ignacio Cebrian (Group Leader at Institute of Histology and Embryology, Argentina), Agustin Lujan ( Group leader/project director at hospital joan de deu, Barcelona)
Postdoc mentees now in the pharma and technology sectors: Cristina Nogueira (Senior Scientist at Oxford Biomedica, UK), Patrik Erlmann (Head of Research at Boehringer Ingelheim, USA), Carine Bossard (Director at Biosplice Therapeutics, USA), and Monika Liljedahl (Senior Medical Director at Leo Pharma, Sweden).
Students:
Brian Link (Professor at Wisconsin Medical Center, USA), Matt Pecot (Assistant Professor at Harvard Neurobiology. Deceased), Peter Takizawa (Director of Medical Studies at Yale University), Colin Jamora (Chair of the Life Sciences Program at Shiv Nader University, India), and Carla Burballa Tarrega (Nephrologist at Hospital Del Mar, Barcelona).