Members of the Lab
Ju Youn Kim
(Graduate Student)
"I am studying functional differences between HCF-1 and HCF-2 using a mix of fluorescence microscopy and molecular biology techniques."
Satoko Matusmura
(Postdoctoral Fellow)
"I am interested in the mechanisms that prevent reactivation of latent KSHV and have focused on the chromatin structure of the latent viral episome as well as the role of viral and cellular transcription factors in silencing the ORF50 gene, which encodes the lytic switch protein Rta."
Søren Ottosen
(Postdoctoral Fellow)
"My work focuses on the regulation of the cellular localization of HCF-1. I am investigating the function of HPIP, a cellular factor which we have shown to be involved in the export of HCF-1 from the nucleus. This research could help determine whether nuclear export of HCF-1 solely serves as a negative regulator of HCF-1-dependent transcription or whether HCF-1 has non-transcriptional functions in the cytoplasm."
Linda Persson
(Research Technician)
"My project focuses on finding the biological targets of a bromodomain protein that interacts with HCF-1."
Angus Wilson, Ph.D.
(Principal Investigator)
"My project is to keep everyone in the lab happy, write the occasional paper and sometimes think of a good experiment or two."
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Some former members of the lab
Karen Allen (MD/Ph.D Student) worked on transcriptional activation by LANA during her rotation.
Derek Bazemore, Jr (Summer Undergraduate Research Student) came to us from Howard Univerity in Washington D. C. as part of the Summer Undergraduate Research Program and worked with Randy Luciano on transcriptional repression by the LANA protein of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus. Derek is currently studying medicine at NYU School of Medicine.
Jennie (HyoJin) Chung
(Research Technician)
Jennie's project aims to identify cellular proteins that tether KSHV LANA to the host chromatin in latently-infected cells. This is essential for maintenance of the viral episomal genome in the actively dividing host and also contributes to LANA's ability to promote promiscuous activation of cellular genes and initiate DNA replication.
As first member of the lab, Kristy Johnson (Research Technician) has made a number of important contributions including the isolation and sequencing of two new HCF genes: human HCF-2 and Drosophila HCF. She is currently in graduate school at UCLA where she works on mechanistic aspects of transcriptional activation in eukaryotic cells.
Markus Little (Summer Undergraduate Research Student) came to us from Xavier University in Louisiana as part of the Summer Undergraduate Research Program and worked with Shahana Mahajan on the cloning and characterization of cellular proteins that interact with HCF-1.
Randy Luciano
(Postdoctoral Fellow)
"My past work in the Wilson Lab demonstrated that HCF-1 functions as a coactivator for viral and cellular transcription factors. Currently I am working to better understand the mechanism behind this function."
Shahana Mahajan
(Postdoctoral Fellow)
Studies focused on the cellular role of HCF-1, and in particular the domains associated with cell proliferation. She identified a number of cellular proteins that associate with HCF-1 and mediate different aspects of its function. The list includes a novel polypeptide named HPIP (pronounced "Aych-pip') which regulates HCF-1's subcellular distribution by exporting it from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. In another study, Shahana showed that Drosophila HCF undergoes proteolytic processing and self-association. This is strongly reminiscent of its mammalian counterpart, implying a evolutionarily conserved function, however, it seems the processing itself occurs through a different mechanism.
Jerry Matchett
(M.D. Honors Thesis Student)
discussing cell phenotypes with Shahana Mahajan. Jerry works on the mechanism of chromosomal tethering by LANA.
As a rotation student in the lab, David Schwam (Graduate Student) was first to show that LANA is capable of multimerization even in the absence of other viral components and mapped this function to the C-terminus of the protein. He is currently pursuing his interests in clinical medicine at NYU.
Matt Valento
(M.D. Honors Thesis Student)
When he is not yearning for the simple life in Minnesota, Matt has been studying the functional properties of defined mutations in the C-terminus of LANA.
Rafael Vazquez (Summer Undergraduate Research Student Mount Saint Mary College) worked on nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling of HCF-1 under the mentorship of Shahana Mahajan.
LaiYee Wong
(Graduate Student)
"My project focuses on the latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) protein encoded by KSHV. LANA has been shown to block gene activation by the p53 tumor suppressor protein, and I am interested in the mechanism by which this occurs. Disruption of the p53 pathway is a hallmark of virus-driven cell proliferation and cancer."
Others
Oluyinka Akinbinu (Summer Undergraduate Research Student)
Alexis Diwa (Graduate Student)
Ijeoma Ejigiri (Summer Undergraduate Research Student)
Robert Hsu (Westinghouse Research Student)
Wan Li (M.D. Honors Thesis Student)
Michael Pearce (Graduate Student)
Andrew Pomfret (Graduate Student)
Rebecca Powell (Graduate Student)
Nicole Sanseri (Graduate Student
Jennifer Srygley (Summer Undergraduate Research Student)
Gaia Vasiliver-Shamis (Graduate Student)
Shaun Walters (Graduate Student)
Dayle Whitman (Summer Undergraduate Research Student)