Kathleen Conklin, Ph.D.

Research Interests:

Cancer biology

There are three major projects in the laboratory. The first involves the identification of genes involved in development of human leukemia. This project is a collaborative effort between my laboratory and that of Dr. Betsy Hirsch. Dr Hirsch's laboratory has identified a new recurrent chromosomal abnormality in young children with acute myeloid leukemia. We are cloning genes that localize to the sites of chromosomal rearrangements in tumors from these patients; one candidate gene we identified recently is novel and exhibits characteristics of a tumor suppressor gene. Studies are underway to define the function in both normal and leukemic cells of this and additional genes being cloned.

The second project takes a different approach to identify genes important in tumorigenesis and uses a retrovirus model. Many retroviruses induce leukemias; analysis of tumor DNA demonstrates that viral DNA (called a provirus) is found inserted at common sites and that these sites frequently define either oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. We are analyzing both myeloid and B cell tumors induced by different strains of retroviruses to identify genes that are aberrantly regulated after proviral insertion. As an extension of these tumorigenesis studies, we are also investigating the role of several viral genes required for efficient replication.

Selected Recent Publications:

• Gunawardena SR, Ruis BL, Meyer JA, Kapoor M, Conklin KF.J Biol Chem. 2007.
  NOM1 targets protein phosphatase I to the nucleolus. J. Biol. Chem. [Epub ahead of print]
  
• Simmons, H.M., Ruis, B.L., Kapoor, M., Hudacek, A.W., Conklin, K.F. 2005. Identification of NOM1, a nucleolar, eIF4A binding protein encoded within the chromosome 7q36 breakpoint region targeted in cases of pediatric acute myeloid leukemia. Gene 347:137-145.
  
• Ruis, B.L., S.J. Benson, and K.F Conklin. 1999. Genome structure and expression of the ev/J family of avian endogenous viruses. J. Virol. 73:5345-5355.
  
• Benson, S.J., B.L. Ruis, A.L. Garbers, A.M. Fadly and K.F. Conklin. 1998. Independent isolates of the emerging subgroup J avian leukosis virus derive from a common ancestor. J. Virol. 72: 10301-10304.
  
• Benson, S.J., B.L. Ruis, A.M. Fadly and K. F. Conklin. 1998. The unique envelope gene of the subgroup J avian leukosis virus derives from ev/J proviruses, a novel family of avian endogenous viruses. J. Virol. 72:10157-10164.
  
• Houtz, E. and K.F. Conklin. 1996. Identification of EFIV, a stable factor present in many avian cell types that transactivates sequences in the 5' portion of the Rous Sarcoma Virus Long Terminal Repeat Enhancer. J. Virol. 70:393-401.
  

 

Last revised on November 7, 2007