BARBARA GRAVES, PhD
Professor | email
Barbara received her early science training with a BA from Rice University. She then attended the University of Washington for her PhD where she began her interest in gene expression. After post-doctoral training at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle and the Carnegie Institute of Washington in Baltimore, she joined the faculty of the University of Utah in 1986. Her research program moved into the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah in 1999. She is a past editor of the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Biology and currently co-organizer of the CSH Transcription Meeting. The long-standing interest of her laboratory has been transcriptional control mechanisms. Projects have focused on the ETS family of transcription factors over the last decade with emphasis on biochemical approaches.

KAREN DAVIS
Administrative Assistant | email
Karen is originally from northern California. She received her B.A. in Public Relations, Communications from BYU. She began working at the University of Utah in 1994 and enjoyed moving to the Huntsman Cancer Institute in 1999 for a few weeks before going on maternity leave. Karen returned to the Huntsman Cancer Institute in 2003 as Barbara Graves’ assistant. She enjoys watching the bustling environment of research and discovery and is happy to be a part of the Graves lab.

ADAM BLASZCZAK
Research Associate | email
A native of Poland, Adam in 1992 received TEMPUS scholarship to conduct his research for Masters Degree in Dr. Robert Glass’ laboratory at the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK. For his graduate work at the University of Gdansk he conducted his research in Maciej Zylicz’s lab on the heat shock response in Escherichia coli. In 1995 he became a research associate at the Institute of Biophysics and Biochemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (IBB PAN) Warsaw/Gdansk, Poland. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Gdansk in 1998. Adam is part of both the C.elegans and post-translational modifications of Ets-1 group.

CHARLES FOULDS
Postdoctoral Fellow | email
Charles received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Oregon. Starting in 1999, he conducted post-doctoral research with Dr. Graves, studying the role of MAPK phosphorylation in stimulating the activation function of the Ets-1 and Ets-2 transcription factors. He, along with Dr. Adam Blaszczak and graduate student Mary Nelson, found that the CREB-binding protein (CBP) and p300 coactivators display preferential binding to ERK2-phosphorylated Ets-1 and Ets-2, thus providing a missing link between the Ras/MAPK signaling pathway and transcriptional activation.

SEAN GREEN
Graduate Student | email
Sean received his Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Seattle University in 2000, and entered the Biological Chemistry Program at Utah in 2001. Sean’s research focuses on characterizing the DNA binding properties of the Ets protein TEL, with a focus on understanding how TEL’s polymerization properties affect DNA binding and transcriptional regulation.

PETER HOLLENHORST
Postdoctoral Fellow | email
Pete did his undergraduate work at St. Norbert College in DePere
Wisconsin. He then did his graduate work on forkhead transcription
factors in yeast at the University of Wisconsin department of
Biomolecular Chemistry. Pete joined the Graves Lab as an American
Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow in 2003. He is currently interested
in the in vivo promoter specificity of ETS transcription factors.
Pete's long term interest is understanding the "promoter code" or how
genome sequence controls gene expression.

MARY NELSON
Graduate Student |
email Mary received her Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Seattle University in 2000 and entered the Molecular Biology program at Utah that same year. Her work in the lab focuses on the role of phosphorylation in Ets-1 transcriptional activity. Ets-1 phosphorylation at the MAP kinase site leads to enhance binding with the coactivator CBP/p300. She would like to understand the mechanism that drives the binding enhancement. When Mary is not in the lab, she enjoys playing softball and competing in triathlons.

MILES PUFALL
Postdoctoral Fellow | email
Miles was a member of Dr. Graves’ Lab from 1999 to 2005, receiving his PhD in December of 2004. His work focused on understanding mechanisms of DNA binding regulation, using Ets-1 as a model. Employing a combination of biochemical, biophysical, and structural techniques, including NMR, Miles was able to show that multiple phosphates worked together additively to fine tune DNA binding affinity, rather than simply turn DNA binding on or off. This work earned him the James W. Prahl award for outstanding contributions by a graduate student in the biomedical sciences. He is currently conducting his post-doctoral research in the lab of Keith Yamamoto at the University of California at San Francisco. Miles received his BA in Chemistry from Oberlin College, and his MS in Toxicology from American University.

CASSIE SADINSKI
Summer Lab Aide | email

BARGAVI THYAGARAJAN
Graduate Student | email
Bargavi received her Master’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Madras, India. She moved to the US in 2000 to pursue her PhD at the University of Utah. Her research interests include studying the Ets family of proteins in the model organism C. elegans. She is currently focusing her studies on the ortholog of Prostate-derived ETS Factor (PDEF) in C. elegans, EDT-1.

JONATHAN TRINH
Lab Aide | email

TIFFANY TRINH
Lab Aide | email
A southern California native, Tiffany moved to Utah in 2000 and graduated from Davis High School in 2002. After starting her undergraduate career at the University of Utah, she joined the Graves Lab in 2003. Tiffany has had the opportunity to work on various research projects with other members of the lab. Currently, she is studying autoinhibition mechanisms of transcription factor Ets-1. Tiffany will graduate from the U in 2006 with a B.A. in Biology and minors in Chemistry and Sociology. Outside of the lab, Tiffany enjoys spending time with her family and friends, traveling, and sightseeing.

CHUCK MEEKER
Graduate Student | email
Chuck was born and raised in Sacramento, CA. After serving a mission for the LDS church in South Korea, Chuck finished his Bachelors degree in Biology at BYU. His interest in transcriptional regulation of oncogenes led him to HCI where he is just beginning his thesis research in the Graves lab. When he’s not wearing gloves at a lab bench, Chuck enjoys wrestling with his one year old son and rollerblading with his wife.