Engineering Proteins to Map and Manipulate the Biology of Living Cells
Alice Y. Ting, Ph.D.
Professor of Genetics, Biology and, by courtesy, Chemistry
Stanford University
Alice Yen-Ping Ting, Ph.D., is a Professor of Genetics, Biology, and Chemistry at Stanford University, a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. A leader in chemical biology and molecular technology development, her laboratory creates innovative tools for studying living cells and neural systems. Dr. Ting is best known for pioneering proximity-labeling methods, including APEX2, TurboID, and miniTurbo, which enable spatial mapping of proteins and molecular interactions in living systems. Her research combines protein engineering, directed evolution, chemical synthesis, and computational design to advance discoveries in neuroscience, mitochondrial biology, immunology, and cancer.
Summary
Biological function is orchestrated through the collective action of molecules and cells. Our laboratory develops technologies to study molecular and cellular assemblies at high spatial and temporal resolution in living cultures and organisms. I will describe our recent discovery that TurboID catalyzes proximity labeling through a contact-dependent mechanism rather than through release of a diffusible intermediate, and how structural and mechanistic insights from this work have guided the design of next-generation proximity labeling enzymes, including tunable-specificity TurboID variants and FlexID, a new enzyme created using machine learning-based conformational biasing that uses diverse non-biotin probes. I will also describe new technologies for characterizing RNAs in living cells, including RNA-activated reporters for high signal-to-noise imaging of specific transcripts, an RNA-stabilized peroxidase (RPEX) for mapping RNA interactomes, and single-cell APEX-seq for subcellular transcriptomics — which we have applied to uncover regulators of CAR-T cell function.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe how proximity labeling with engineered enzymes such as TurboID and APEX allows scientists to map the proteins and RNAs inside living cells.
- Explain how understanding the contact-dependent mechanism of TurboID has guided the design of next-generation labeling tools, including tunable-specificity variants and the machine-learning–designed enzyme FlexID.
- Identify how these cell-mapping technologies can reveal biology relevant to human health, such as regulators of CAR-T cell function in cancer immunotherapy.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, August 26, 2026