World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
Susan Lindquist

Susan Lindquist

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Best Scientists
2025
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Best Female Scientists
2025

D-Index & Metrics

Best Female Scientists

D-Index
170
Citations
115878
World Ranking
64
National Ranking
37

Best Scientists

D-Index
170
Citations
115878
World Ranking
873
National Ranking
520

Molecular Biology

D-Index
171
Citations
115384
World Ranking
44
National Ranking
30

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2025 - Research.com Best Female Scientists Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Best Scientists Award
  • 2024 - Research.com Genetics and Molecular Biology in United States Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Molecular Biology in United States Leader Award
  • 2016 - Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research
  • 2012 - E.B. Wilson Medal, American Society for Cell Biology
  • 2009 - US President's National Medal of Science "For her studies of protein folding, demonstrating that alternative protein conformations and aggregations can have profound and unexpected biological influences, facilitating insights in fields as wide-ranging as human disease, evolution, and biomaterials. ", Presented by President Barack H. Obama in the East Room of the White House on November 17, 2010.
  • 2009 - Oesper Award, University of Cincinnati and American Chemical Society
  • 2009 - Excellence in Science Award, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)
  • 2008 - Genetics Society of America Medal
  • 2006 - Member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM)
  • 1997 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences

Overview

Susan Lindquist was affiliated with MIT in the United States throughout their career. Their research spanned several fields, primarily focusing on biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology, as well as medicine. Their specialized subfields included molecular biology, neurology, cell biology, cellular and molecular neuroscience, and physiology.

The scientist contributed to key topics such as Parkinson's disease mechanisms and treatments, heat shock proteins research, RNA research and splicing, endoplasmic reticulum stress and disease, Alzheimer's disease research and treatments, neurological disorders and treatments, and genetic neurodegenerative diseases.

They published in various venues with multiple papers in Cell Reports, and additional work appearing in Neuron, bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Science Translational Medicine, and Cell.

Frequent coauthors included Erinc Hallacli, Vikram Khurana, Xin Jiang, Daniel Felsky, and Jackson Sandoe, indicating a collaborative research environment.

Notable recent papers included:

  • APOE4 disrupts intracellular lipid homeostasis in human iPSC-derived glia (2021, Science Translational Medicine)
  • The Parkinson's disease protein alpha-synuclein is a modulator of processing bodies and mRNA stability (2022, Cell)
  • HSF1 phase transition mediates stress adaptation and cell fate decisions (2020, Nature Cell Biology)
  • PICALM Rescues Endocytic Defects Caused by the Alzheimer's Disease Risk Factor APOE4 (2020, Cell Reports)
  • Inhibition of translation initiation factor eIF4a inactivates heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) and exerts anti-leukemia activity in AML (2021, Leukemia)

Awards received during their career included the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research (2016), the E.B. Wilson Medal from the American Society for Cell Biology (2012), the Oesper Award from the University of Cincinnati and American Chemical Society (2009), the US President's National Medal of Science (2009) awarded for studies on protein folding and its biological influences, the Excellence in Science Award by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (2009), the Genetics Society of America Medal (2008), membership in the National Academy of Medicine (2006), and membership in the National Academy of Sciences (1997).

Best Publications

  • The heat-shock proteins

    S Lindquist;E A Craig

  • THE HEAT-SHOCK RESPONSE

    Susan Lindquist

  • HSP90 and the chaperoning of cancer.

    Luke Whitesell;Luke Whitesell;Susan L. Lindquist

  • The Function of Heat-Shock Proteins in Stress Tolerance: Degradation and Reactivation of Damaged Proteins

    D A Parsell;S Lindquist

  • Hsp90 as a capacitor for morphological evolution

    Suzanne L. Rutherford;Susan Lindquist

  • Hsp104, Hsp70, and Hsp40: A Novel Chaperone System that Rescues Previously Aggregated Proteins

    John R Glover;Susan Lindquist

  • HSP90 at the hub of protein homeostasis: emerging mechanistic insights

    Mikko Taipale;Daniel F. Jarosz;Susan Lindquist

  • Hsp90 as a capacitor of phenotypic variation

    Christine Queitsch;Todd A. Sangster;Susan Lindquist;Susan Lindquist

  • α-Synuclein Blocks ER-Golgi Traffic and Rab1 Rescues Neuron Loss in Parkinson's Models

    Antony A. Cooper;Aaron D. Gitler;Anil Cashikar;Cole M. Haynes

  • The FLP recombinase of yeast catalyzes site-specific recombination in the Drosophila genome.

    Kent G. Golic;Susan Lindquist

  • Protein disaggregation mediated by heat-shock protein Hsp104.

    Dawn A. Parsell;Anthony S. Kowal;Mike A. Singer;Susan Lindquist;Susan Lindquist

  • Role of the chaperone protein Hsp104 in propagation of the yeast prion-like factor [psi+].

    Yury O. Chernoff;Susan L. Lindquist;Bun-ichiro Ono;Sergei G. Inge-Vechtomov

  • Reduced levels of hsp90 compromise steroid receptor action in vivo

    Didier Picard;Bushra Khursheed;Michael J. Garabedian;Marc G. Fortin;Marc G. Fortin

  • A systematic survey identifies prions and illuminates sequence features of prionogenic proteins

    Simon Alberti;Randal Halfmann;Oliver King;Oliver King;Atul Kapila

  • HSP104 required for induced thermotolerance.

    Yolanda Sanchez;Susan L. Lindquist

  • Generation of Isogenic Pluripotent Stem Cells Differing Exclusively at Two Early Onset Parkinson Point Mutations

    Frank Soldner;Josée Laganière;Albert W. Cheng;Dirk Hockemeyer

  • Nucleated conformational conversion and the replication of conformational information by a prion determinant.

    Tricia R. Serio;Anil G. Cashikar;Anthony S. Kowal;George J. Sawicki

  • Yeast Cells Provide Insight into Alpha-Synuclein Biology and Pathobiology

    Tiago Fleming Outeiro;Susan Lindquist

  • Multiple Effects of Trehalose on Protein Folding In Vitro and In Vivo

    Mike A Singer;Susan Lindquist

  • Heat shock factor 1 is a powerful multifaceted modifier of carcinogenesis.

    Chengkai Dai;Luke Whitesell;Arlin B. Rogers;Susan Lindquist;Susan Lindquist

Frequent Co-Authors

Sandro Santagata
Sandro Santagata Brigham and Women's Hospital
Tiago F. Outeiro
Tiago F. Outeiro University of Göttingen
James Shorter
James Shorter University of Pennsylvania
Oliver D. King
Oliver D. King University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School
Guy A. Caldwell
Guy A. Caldwell University of Alabama
Kim A. Caldwell
Kim A. Caldwell University of Alabama
Aaron D. Gitler
Aaron D. Gitler Stanford University
Christine Queitsch
Christine Queitsch University of Washington
Eric C. Schirmer
Eric C. Schirmer University of Edinburgh

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