Nicholas J.G. Webster, PhD
Associate Director, Shared Resources
Acting Chief and Professor in Residence, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine
As Associate Director, Shared Resources, Nicholas J.G. Webster, PhD, oversees Shared Resources operations that support Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health’s basic, translation and clinical research. He is responsible for developing a strategic plan for the Moores Cancer Center’s Shared Resources and providing scientific, technical and administrative guidance to the laboratory-based services to ensure a high level of customer satisfaction and operational cost effectiveness.
Shared Resources provides state-of-the-art equipment and technology, expertise, and training as well as technical consultation on experimental design and interpretation results. Many Moores Cancer Center members depend on these core labs to accurately generate and analyze data. Moores Cancer Center presently operates 12 Shared Resources facilities, approved and largely funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute. Several new Shared Resources are being developed to reflect future trends in technology and emerging research disciplines.
Dr. Webster brings a high level of expertise and experience to this position. Prior to joining Moores Cancer Center, he was associate vice chancellor for Research Facilities in the Office of Research Affairs. Among his portfolio of duties he oversaw development and administration of campus-wide Shared Research facilities.
In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Dr. Webster runs an active research program. In the lab, his work focuses on the mechanism of hormonal regulation of different cellular processes. At the genomic level, he is interested in how hormones regulate alternative splicing of mRNAs and how dysregulation in this process can lead to cancer. At the cellular and physiological levels, Dr. Webster is interested in how obesity and inflammatory cytokines promote breast cancer cell proliferation and tumor growth. At the therapeutic level, his lab is using combinatorial chemistry to develop intracellular agonists for selected tyrosine kinase receptors and testing them in various mouse models of disease.
Dr. Webster earned his BA and MA from Cambridge University and his PhD from Stanford University. He joined the UC San Diego faculty in 1989 and was promoted to professor in 2006. He has held a number of leadership positions at UC San Diego, the Veterans Affair San Diego Healthcare System, and the Veterans Medical Research Foundation and is a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Contact information:
Nicholas J.G. Webster, PhD
E-mail: nwebster@ucsd.edu
Phone: 858-534-6275