Former Lab Personnel



		Bora Jang Korea borajang@hotmail.com Bora is from South Korea and spent some time in San Diego as an exchange student in high school. While majoring in Biology at the U, she joined us in September 2007 as a volunteer lab aide. After one year, she returned to Korea to be with her family. Lea Huang Palo Alto, CA leahuang2@yahoo.com Lea was the first lab member recruited to work in the Ullman lab. Although her stint was short-lived (she had to relocate about 6 months after being hired), Lea was instrumental in setting the lab up and in initiating many studies focused on Nup153 characterization. After leaving the lab, she went to work for ICOS in Seattle and then in 2006 moved to the Bay Area and is now working at Intermune, Inc. Deborah Duricka Washington State University dduricka@vetmed.wsu.edu Deborah served as a lab specialist from 1999-2002. During her time here, she utilized Xenopus oocytes to investigate the role of Nup153 in both protein and RNA export from the nucleus. In addition to currently working in the Krueger lab at Washington State University, Deborah is also pursuing a Ph.D. in Neuroscience. Ammon Fager University of Vermont Ammon.Fager@uvm.edu Ammon first served as a summer intern in 1999 and then as a lab technician from 1999-2002. Ammon was focused on characterizing RNA pol III transcription in synthetic nuclei. In addition, his work also contributed to many different projects in the lab. He is currently an M.D.-Ph.D. student at the University of Vermont. Ammon and family (!) visit the lab in summer 06. Brian Bennion Myriad Genetics, Inc. Brian worked in the lab as an undergraduate student and then as a lab technician from 1999-2003. While Brian was in the lab, he assisted in characterizing the RNA binding properties of Nup153, with Jennifer Ball, and also generated many Nup153-specific reagents. After working for a few years at Myriad Genetics, Brian is now taking classes and working part-time for the military. Anne Robertson University of Utah Anne was an undergraduate student in the lab from 2000-2002. With Jin Liu, Anne was focused on the characterization of the Zinc-finger module of Nup153. Anne is currently a graduate student at the University of Utah, completing an interdisciplinary master’s degree in communications and civil engineering. Jin Liu, Ph.D. University of California, Davis medp7084@hotmail.com Jin was a postdoctoral fellow in the lab from 2001-2004. In the short time she was here, Jin determined that the COPI complex functions in nuclear envelope breakdown and is recruited by Nup153. She then moved to do a post-doc with Dan Starr at Huntsman Cancer Institute, working on nuclear positioning in C.elegans. More recently (fall 2005) she has returned to Salt Lake City and is currently a Research Associate in the Bernard Lab down the hall. Christian Dimaano, Ph.D. Myriad Genetics cdimaano@gmail.com Christian was a graduate student in the lab from 1999-2004 and had a pre-doctoral fellowship from the NIH. While in the lab, Christian mapped a novel RNA binding domain in the N-terminus of Nup153 and characterized its properties in collaboration with Jennifer Ball. After postdoctoral studies in the Babst lab in the Biology Department at the University of Utah, Christian joined Myriad Genetics as a Staff Scientist in 2007 and is now in the spin-off company, Myriad Pharmaceuticals. Jennifer Ball, Ph.D. Washington University jball@path.wustl.edu Jennifer was a graduate student in the lab from 1999-2004. Jennifer’s project in the lab was to characterize the RNA ligands that associate with the RNA binding domain of Nup153. She showed that Nup153 associates with an array of single-stranded RNAs at sites that are enriched in guanine. In collaboration with Christian Dimaano, she also tested how the association between RNA and Nup153 contributes to the fate of mRNA in vivo. Jennifer went on to complete a Clinical Chemistry Fellowship Program at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and now lives in Ohio. Raleigh joins the family 10/1/07. Pei-Wen Chu University of Utah chu_pw@hotmail.com Originally from Taiwan, Pei-Wen became a volunteer in the lab in 2003 and then a technician in the fall of 2004. She helped in characterizing interactions with the zinc fingers of Nup153 and in generating new antibody reagents. In the fall of 2005, she entered the Graduate Program in Neurobiology Program here. Tracy Zundel Medical College of Wisconsin mtzundel@gmail.com Tracy joined the lab in 2002 and worked as a lab aide until graduating with a degree in Biochemistry in Spring 05. He became the resident guru of VectorNTI and the go-to person for generating a new construct. He is now an enthusiastic medical student. Jason Woodbury Bountilful, UT jjmw25@utah.edu Jason was an undergraduate lab aide from 2003-2005 and majored in Bioengineering at the U. He assisted in various projects in our lab, churning out purified antibodies and recombinant proteins. In the summer of 2003, he was an AHA intern in Dr. Sheldon Litwin’s lab. He also did an honors project in Bioengineering during his senior year, helping to create a 3D computer model based on a canine heart for electrophysiological simulations. Amy Prunuske University of Wisconsin, Madison amy.prunuske@gmail.com Amy came to graduate school in 2000. She was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship and a University of Utah Graduate Research Fellowship during her tenure here. Her thesis, which she defended in January 2006, was centered on understanding the role of the nuclear pore proteins, Nup153 and Nup358, in breakdown of the nuclear envelope at mitosis. She and her husband Jake, along with sons Ben and Owen, moved to Wisconsin in July 2006, where Amy is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Elizabeth Craig. Amy, Jake and Ben welcome Owen in July 2006. Amber Bilak University of Colorado, Boulder amber.bilak@colorado.edu Amber joined the lab as a technician in 2003 after returning from two years in the Peace Corps teaching high school biology and math in Namibia. She worked on the question of how Nup153 recognizes RNA and set-up gel shift analyses as well as SELEX strategies in the lab. In August 2006 she joined the Molecular Cellular Developmental Biology graduate program at University of Colorado, Boulder. Amber has joined Tin Tin Su's lab and was sighted at the 2008 Fly meeting by Maria in the Beckerle lab. Eydie Kurchan ekurchan@gmail.com Eydiejo was a postdoc in the lab for just over a year (2005-2006). She came after receiving her Ph.D. in Biochemistry with Dr. Bruce Bowler at the University of Denver. In the short time she was here, she made significant strides in characterizing the RNA binding domain of Nup153, both in deciphering its RNA recognition properties and in streamlining a recombinant prep that could be used to take a structural approach. When her husband got a job offer too good to refuse out East, Eydie joined him there after a few months of "batching it". She is now the proud mama of Maxim (as of 5/21/07) and considering career options. Todd Clark Todd was an undergrad lab aide from 2004-2006. He majored in Bioengineering and was known for posting highly creative signage in the lab. Meda Higa, Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania Mhiga@mail.med.upenn.edu Meda was an undergrad at University of California, Santa Cruz and a student in the lab from 2000 � 2006. She was supported in part by the Genetics Training Grant. After some twists and turns on her project, Meda collaborated with Steve Alam in the Sundquist lab to understand the structure of the Nup zinc finger and how it provides an interface for the partner protein Ran. She headed out to U. Penn in the Spring 2007 to join the lab of Dr. Robert Doms. Samantha Smith mavs_fan@hotmail.com Sam is from Dallas, Texas, where apparently she became quite attached to certain sports teams (c.f. email address). Her educational path took her many places, from Austin to Provo to the Caribbean --not to mention Salt Lake City itself. She joined the lab as a graduate student, but after a year (06-07) she decided to leave and no doubt we�ll be hearing of her entrepreneurial successes soon! Emily Clegg (now Barker) Case Western University eclegg85@yahoo.com Emily Clegg joined the lab in January 2005 as an undergraduate Lab Aide. She graduated Dec. 2007, got married, and headed out to Cleveland, where she started as a graduate student in the Chemistry Dept. at Case Western in January 2008. Emily worked alongside Amy and then KinHoe and spent one summer doing a research internship at Idaho National Laboratory.