# Jared E. Toettcher
**Jared E. Toettcher** (Jared E Toettcher) is a molecular biologist who studies how cells make decisions using signaling pathways, and who engineers light-sensitive proteins to control and measure those pathways with optogenetics. He is Associate Professor of Molecular Biology at Princeton University, Deputy Director of the Omenn-Darling Bioengineering Institute, and associated faculty in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics.[1](https://cbe.princeton.edu/people/jared-toettcher) His laboratory's defining work showed how the Ras/Erk pathway transmits signal dynamics, published in *Cell* in 2013,[2](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3925772/) and his honors include a 2016 NIH Director's New Innovator Award, a 2018 NSF CAREER Award, a 2018 James A. Elkins Preceptorship, and a 2019 Vallee Scholar award.[3](https://toettcherlab.scholar.princeton.edu/bio)
| Key facts | |
| --- | --- |
| Field | Cell signaling and optogenetic control of signaling pathways[3](https://toettcherlab.scholar.princeton.edu/bio) |
| Position | Associate Professor of Molecular Biology; Deputy Director, Omenn-Darling Bioengineering Institute, Princeton University[1](https://cbe.princeton.edu/people/jared-toettcher) |
| Training | B.S. Bioengineering, UC Berkeley, 2004; Ph.D. Biological Engineering, MIT, 2009 (advisors Bruce Tidor and Galit Lahav)[3](https://toettcherlab.scholar.princeton.edu/bio) |
| Postdoc | Cancer Research Institute fellow, 2010–2013, UC San Francisco, under Wendell Lim and Orion Weiner[1](https://cbe.princeton.edu/people/jared-toettcher) • [4](https://thevalleefoundation.org/programs/yia/jared-toettcher-phd) |
| Signature work | "Using Optogenetics to Interrogate the Dynamic Control of Signal Transmission by the Ras/Erk Module", *Cell*, 2013[2](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3925772/) |
| Major funding | NIH Director's New Innovator Award, 2016–2021, $2,361,042 from NIH NIBIB[5](https://www.researchwithnj.com/en/projects/harnessing-optogenetics-to-diagnose-and-therapeutically-rewire-ca/) |
| Startup | Co-founder of Opto-therapeutics, a Princeton Keller Center team using optogenetics for wound healing[6](https://kellercenter.princeton.edu/people/startups-teams/opto-therapeutics) |
## Education and career
Toettcher graduated with a B.S. in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley in 2004, where he had been a Regents' scholar from 2000, and was an MIT Presidential fellow in 2004.[3](https://toettcherlab.scholar.princeton.edu/bio) • [1](https://cbe.princeton.edu/people/jared-toettcher) He completed his Ph.D. in Biological Engineering at MIT in 2009, working with Bruce Tidor at MIT and [Galit Lahav](https://www.edgepedia.org/galit-lahav) at Harvard Medical School on the relationship between mammalian cells' surveillance of DNA damage and their decision to undergo cell cycle arrest; his dissertation, *Relating topology and dynamics in cell signaling networks*, was deposited at MIT in 2009.[3](https://toettcherlab.scholar.princeton.edu/bio) • [7](http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62986) That doctoral work produced a 2009 PNAS paper, "Distinct Mechanisms Act in Concert to Mediate Cell Cycle Arrest" (*PNAS* 106(3):785–90).[8](https://toettcherlab.scholar.princeton.edu/publications/contributor/toettcher-jared)
He then held a Cancer Research Institute postdoctoral fellowship from 2010 to 2013 under Wendell Lim and [Orion Weiner](https://www.edgepedia.org/orion-d-weiner) at UC San Francisco, where he developed tools to control mammalian cell behavior by engineering optogenetic inputs into the pathways controlled by Ras and PI 3-kinase.[3](https://toettcherlab.scholar.princeton.edu/bio) • [1](https://cbe.princeton.edu/people/jared-toettcher) He joined Princeton as a faculty member. His later awards include the 2018 NSF CAREER Award (2018–2023) and the 2019 Vallee Scholar award.[1](https://cbe.princeton.edu/people/jared-toettcher) • [3](https://toettcherlab.scholar.princeton.edu/bio)
## Optogenetic control of cell signaling
The laboratory's core tool is light-gated association of two plant proteins, Phytochrome B and PIF6, which can be ported into a wide variety of cell types and organisms.[9](https://molbio.princeton.edu/people/jared-e-toettcher) Illumination at 650 nm drives the two proteins to associate and 750 nm drives them to dissociate, so a researcher can tune signaling activity in graded, "grayscale" levels by adjusting the light.[1](https://cbe.princeton.edu/people/jared-toettcher)
A 2011 *Nature Methods* paper reported an extension: applying custom signaling inputs through feedback control of a light-gated protein-protein interaction, in which the illumination is adjusted automatically to hold a target signal at a desired trajectory. The method was applied to perturb protein localization and phosphoinositide 3-kinase activity.[10](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3184382/) A 2010 *Nature Methods* commentary, published December 20, 2010, set out the promise of optogenetics for interrogating molecular circuits in space and time in cell biology.[11](https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.f.326)
## Representative work
The 2013 *Cell* paper "Using Optogenetics to Interrogate the Dynamic Control of Signal Transmission by the Ras/Erk Module" (*Cell* 155(6):1422–1434, doi [10.1016/j.cell.2013.11.004](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2013.11.004)) developed an optogenetic approach to selectively activate isolated intracellular signaling nodes with light and follow the flow of information from Ras.[2](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3925772/) By measuring dose and frequency responses in single cells, it characterized the precision, timing, and efficiency with which signals are transmitted from Ras to Erk: according to Toettcher, in fibroblasts, a signal delivered to Ras takes about 3 minutes to traverse the MAP kinase cascade and activate Erk, and transmission is equally efficient across a broad range of input levels and timescales.[1](https://cbe.princeton.edu/people/jared-toettcher) • [2](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3925772/) Combining distinct temporal stimulation patterns with proteomic profiling, the study identified a paracrine circuit that activates STAT3 only after persistent Ras activation lasting more than 1 hour.[2](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3925772/)
## Cancer signaling and translational applications
The laboratory frames cancer as in part a disease of signal transmission: pathways important to normal cell behavior are "rewired" to generate improper responses, and measurements of signal transmission can profile differences between normal and cancer cells.[9](https://molbio.princeton.edu/people/jared-e-toettcher) A 2018 *Science* paper showed that cancer mutations and targeted drugs can disrupt dynamic signal encoding by the Ras/Erk pathway (*Science* 361:eaao3048).[1](https://cbe.princeton.edu/people/jared-toettcher)
His 2016 NIH Director's New Innovator Award funded the project "Harnessing Optogenetics to Diagnose and Therapeutically Rewire Cancer Cell Signaling", with Toettcher as principal investigator in Molecular Biology at Princeton; it ran from September 30, 2016 to August 31, 2021 and was funded by NIH NIBIB with $2,361,042.[5](https://www.researchwithnj.com/en/projects/harnessing-optogenetics-to-diagnose-and-therapeutically-rewire-ca/)
Toettcher is co-founder of Opto-therapeutics, a startup team at Princeton's Keller Center, active as of 2024, that aims to improve wound healing with optogenetics. The venture proposes delivering light-controlled receptor tyrosine kinases to injury sites and using nontoxic blue light to control cell survival and growth over about 7 days, with applications in spinal cord injury, diabetes, and burn recovery; it cites diabetic ulcers, which affect one-third of people with diabetes and whose complications result in the majority of limb amputations, as a target.[6](https://kellercenter.princeton.edu/people/startups-teams/opto-therapeutics)
## Recent developments
In 2024, Toettcher was named an Allen Distinguished Investigator.[9](https://molbio.princeton.edu/people/jared-e-toettcher) The Opto-therapeutics venture remains active as of 2024.[6](https://kellercenter.princeton.edu/people/startups-teams/opto-therapeutics)
## References
1. [Jared E. Toettcher, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University](https://cbe.princeton.edu/people/jared-toettcher)
2. [Using Optogenetics to Interrogate the Dynamic Control of Signal Transmission by the Ras/Erk Module (Cell, 2013)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3925772/)
3. [Jared E. Toettcher, Biography (Toettcher Lab, Princeton)](https://toettcherlab.scholar.princeton.edu/bio)
4. [Jared Toettcher, PhD, The Vallee Foundation](https://thevalleefoundation.org/programs/yia/jared-toettcher-phd)
5. [Harnessing Optogenetics to Diagnose and Therapeutically Rewire Cancer Cell Signaling, Research with NJ](https://www.researchwithnj.com/en/projects/harnessing-optogenetics-to-diagnose-and-therapeutically-rewire-ca/)
6. [Opto-therapeutics, Keller Center at Princeton University](https://kellercenter.princeton.edu/people/startups-teams/opto-therapeutics)
7. [Relating topology and dynamics in cell signaling networks, DSpace@MIT](http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62986)
8. [Publications by Jared Toettcher (Toettcher Lab)](https://toettcherlab.scholar.princeton.edu/publications/contributor/toettcher-jared)
9. [Jared E. Toettcher, Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton](https://molbio.princeton.edu/people/jared-e-toettcher)
10. [Light-based feedback for controlling intracellular signaling dynamics (Nature Methods, 2011)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3184382/)
11. [The promise of optogenetics in cell biology (Nature Methods, 2010)](https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.f.326)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Life scientists › Researchers in molecular and cell biology › Molecular biology of the cell / cell signaling › Second messenger and calcium signaling researchers*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license