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Janis Shampay
Professor of Biology
Reed College
Portland, OR 97202
Office: Biology B226
Phone:
(503) 517-7887
Email: shampay@reed.edu
Teaching Fall Semester
Biology 256: Human Genetics or Biology 101: Introductory Biology
Biology 431: Chromosome Structure and Function
Teaching Spring Semester
Biology 356 - Genetics and Gene Regulation
Education
1981 B.A., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston IL
1987 Ph.D., Molecular Biology, Univ. of California, Berkeley
Teaching
Bio356, Genetics and Gene Regulation, is an upper division lecture-laboratory course focusing on mechanisms of eukaryotic gene regulation and the experimental approaches used to elucidate them. I offer an advanced seminar course on telomeres and telomerase, and in some years a sophomore lecture-conference course on human molecular genetics.
Research
My laboratory has been investigating the structure and behavior of chromosome ends, or telomeres. These specialized structures are required for chromosome stability and maintenance, yet some of their features are quite dynamic. Chromosome ends are maintained by the ribonucleoprotein, telomerase, in a regulated manner. When telomerase is absent and cells divide, telomeres erode; when telomeres reach a critical length or the structure is perturbed, the cells will either cease dividing or undergo programmed cell death. Telomere binding proteins are important to structural integrity and regulation of telomere length.
In contrast to humans, Xenopus expresses abundant telomerase activity in all somatic tissues. With support from the National Science Foundation (grants 0343573 and 0642104), we have identified Xenopus genes for all the "shelterin" components as well as additional potential telomere-regulating proteins. We are determining if these proteins' functions and interactions are conserved in the amphibian, including the mechanism of inhibition of telomerase by PinX1. Many thesis students have chosen to work on aspects of this project and their thesis titles are shown below.
Additional titles and some abstracts can be retrieved from this link:
http://academic.reed.edu/biology/theses/index.html
Recent senior thesis titles include:
- Giancarlo Bruni (2011) The effect of PinX1 fusion protein on telomerase activity of Xenopus laevis in vitro
- Sophie Mayer (2011) Telomeric localization of shelterin protein xTRF1 in somatic Xenopus laevis cells
- Ella Stern (2011) The relation of xTERT transcript abundance to relative telomerase activity in adult Xenopus laevis tissues
- Patrick Fink (2010) Recombinant Partial Xenopus laevis PinX1 Proteins for Telomere Research - Abstract
- David Constant (2009) Production and purification of X. laevis PinX1, a putative telomerase inhibitor
- Jennifer Jin (2009) Is the interaction between human telomere proteins TIN2 and TRF1 conserved in Xenopus laevis? - Abstract
- Molly King (2009) An investigation into the interaction of X. laevis telomeric proteins TRF1 and PinX1 - Abstract
- Michael Wernick (2008) Is PinX1 a negative regulator of telomerase in Xenopus laevis?
- Gillian Woodruff (2008) Expression and characterization of Xenopus laevis POT1 - Abstract
- Jayne T. Gaubatz (2007) PINX1: A Potential Telomerase Inhibitor in Xenopus laevis - Abstract
- Angela Gibbs (2007) Tankyrase in Xenopus laevis - Abstract
- Mikella Procopio (2007) Xenopus laevis Pot1 OB Fold Expression in E. coli and siRNA Construction
- Jacob Schwartzman (2007) An Attempt to Characterize the Function of a Telomere Protection Protein in Xenopus laevis - Abstract
Selected Publications
- Shampay, J. 2010. How do the ends replicate? Trends Biochem. Sci. 35: 5-7 avail. online 11 Dec. 2009.
- Crumet N, Carlson RL, Drutman SB, and Shampay J. 2006. A truncated acidic domain in Xenopus TRF1. Gene 369: 20-26 [Epub Nov 23, 2005]
- Bousman S, Schneider G, Shampay J. 2003. Telomerase activity is widespread in adult somatic tissues of Xenopus. J. Exp. Zoolog. Part B Mol Dev Evol. 295: 82-6.
- Bassham, S., Beam, A., and Shampay, J. 1998. Telomere variation in Xenopus laevis. Mol. Cell. Biol. 18: 269-275.
- Shampay, J, Schmitt, M, and Bassham, S. 1995. A novel minisatellite at a cloned hamster telomere. Chromosoma 104: 29-38.
- Shampay, J, and Blackburn, EH. 1989. Tetrahymena micronuclear sequences that function as telomeres in yeast. Nucl. Acids Res. 17(8): 3247-3260.
- Shampay, J, and Blackburn, EH. 1988. Generation of telomere length heterogeneity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. PNAS 85, 534-538.
- Shampay, J, Szostak, JW, and Blackburn, EH. 1984. DNA sequences of telomeres maintained in yeast. Nature 310: 154-157.
- View additional publications at PubMed:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=shampay
Other Activities
- Member, Faculty for the 21st Century, Project Kaleidoscope
- Devoted collector of felines