Sue Jaspersen

Assistant Investigator

Degree/schools/year graduated: B.S. Chemistry, Georgetown University 1994; Ph.D. Biochemistry, University of California-San Francisco 2000

Projects:  keeping up with everyone in the lab

Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska

Family information: my house is run by Daisy, a black and white tuxedo cat

Hobbies: traveling, reading, my family (do I really have time for these?)

Suman Ghosh

Postdoctoral Research

Degree/schools/year graduated: B.S. Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jadavpur University, India; M.S. Parmaceutical Sciences, KMC Manipal, India; Ph.D. Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska Lincoln

Projects:  

• Inner nuclear membrane protein localization using budding yeast and Ashbya gossypii as model systems.

• Cell signaling and morphogenesis.

• Interaction of immune-components with opportunistic fungal pathogens.

• Identification and characterization of novel bioactive compounds from natural products.

Hometown:  Kolkata, India

Jennifer Gardner

Research Technician II

Degree/schools/year graduated:  University of Colorado, Boulder 2005

Projects:  I’m working on the Mps3/Htz1 interaction and how Mps3 functions in the nucleus.

Hometown:  I don’t know what you want for a hometown, I was born in Anchorage Alaska, but moved around every few years?  I guess I moved here from Boulder?  My parents live in Des Moines though and that’s where I went to high school, so I guess that counts too.

Family information:  My husband is Jeff Gardner.

Hobbies:  My hobbies are reading, skiing, baking, Wikipedia-ing everything.  I thought I had more interesting hobbies than that but I guess notJ

Jennifer Friederichs

Research Technician III

Degree/schools/year graduated:  B.S. Biotechnology and  B.A. Chemistry from the University of Northern Iowa in May 2002

Projects:  I have done high throughput synthetic lethality screens (SGA screens) in the lab as well as helping to figure out MPS3's role in the nucleus.

Hometown:  Iowa

Family information:  Married

Peter Jabbour

Undergraduate Researcher

Degree/ schools/year graduated:    Molecular Biosciences / University of Kansas / well, graduated in 2005 but am pursuing a 2nd undergraduate degree

Projects:  I'm not sure how specific you want this to be.  Currently, I am testing whether two specific proteins (SLP1 and YER140W) are binding partners by protein complex immunoprecipitaion.  This could help in determining where these proteins localize in the cell and what their functions may be.  I am also assisting Megan Rogge in a synthetic lethal screen to look for extragenic mutations that enhance a conditional allele (SLP1 in this case).

Hometown:     Mission, KS

Hobbies:  Can my work be a hobby? …genetics and molecular biology.  I enjoy reading books as long as they give me something new and interesting to learn (mostly non-fiction).  I love sports (playing and spectating): basketball, football, golf, I'm even on a kickball team at the moment.  Traveling will probably be my favorite hobby once I get enough money to do it.  Comedy (if that counts as a hobby) is really something I cant get enough of, whether it’s a good stand-up bit or movie.  Oh, and I'm a huge Jayhawk fan.  Rock Chalk!

Christine J. Smoyer

Research Technician I

Degree/schools/year graduated:  BS in Molecular Biosciences from KU Dec. 2007

Projects:  I am currently working on determining how mps3 localizes to the inner nuclear membrane of the cell, using avalanche photodiode detection methods for live cell imaging. I am also using APD techniques as well as immunoflourescence microscopy to assist with htz1 and slp1 localization.

Hometown:  New Jersey

Family Information:  Married

Hobbies:  Boxing, model kit building, art

Christine Whetstine

Research Technician III

Degree/schools/year graduated:  BS in Microbioloby from Kansas State 2004

Projects:   Similar to my lab mates, I am interested in studying Mps3, the sole SUN protein in Saccromyces cerevisiae, but I’m also investigating two uncharacterized proteins, YOR154W or Sun-like-protein 1 (Slp1) and YER140W.  Since joining the lab, my worked has been aimed at answering two questions.  First, what proteins in the perinuclear space and ONM proteins interact with Mps3 at its lumenal domain?  A key function of SUN proteins is to form a linker that tethers the nucleus to components of the cytoplasm. The interaction between Mps3 and ONM proteins may contribute to the formation of a SUN protein-ONM protein linker.  To study the interaction we designed a lumenal reporter construct.
   

Secondly, I would like to know where do Slp1 and YER140W localize and what are their functions?  I  have tagged Slp1 and YER140W proteins for imaging studies to find their cellular localization.  Along with biochemical approaches, I am also utilizing bioinformatics to understand the functions of Slp1 and YER140W.

Hometown:  Troy, Kansas

Hobbies:  Photography, Reading, Gardening

Amber Butyn

Rotation Student

Degree/schools/year graduated: B.A. Biology, Florida Atlantic University 2009

Projects:  The Effect of Mps3 Transmembrane Domain Mutations on Inner Nuclear Membrane Localization

Hometown:  West Palm Beach, Florida

Former Lab Members:

Megan Rogge

Research Technician

Beth Stensrud

Post Doctoral Research Associate

Claudia Lang

Visiting Graduate Student

Bob Chisholm

Post Doctoral Fellow

Emily Hoffman

Summer Scholar

Research Technician

Adriana Korpela

Research Technician