Research Expertise and Interest
biology, cell biology, DNA replication, gene regulation, saccharomyces cerevisiae, genetic analysis, genome, cholesterol biosynthetic pathway, modification of proteins, prenylated proteins
Research Description
Jasper Rine is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and Professor of the Graduate School Division of Genetics, Genomics, Evolution, and Development. The research in his lab is focused on the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in which they use genetic analysis to explore issues of gene regulation and cell biology. In addition, they are developing genomic-based approaches to the study of cells by parallel analysis of the expression of all genes simultaneously. Their goal is to create a new kind of genetic analysis in which the genome is used as the unit of function, rather than individual genes or proteins. The gene regulation work focuses on the coupling between certain origins of DNA replication and the establishment of domains with different transcriptional states. The cell biology work focuses on the regulation of the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway and the roles intermediates of this pathway play in the covalent modification of numerous proteins including the Ras oncoprotein and in the trafficking of prenylated proteins.
