Review article published in on the听Mediator complex as a master regulator of RNA polymerase听II transcription听(November 2022).
Research technician听Grace Shelby joins our team. Welcome to the lab! (October 2022)
A one-page "SnapShot" that summarizes is published in Cell, part of an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Shraddha Nayak and Dr. Janet Iwasa (September 2022).
Completing a years-long听collaboration with the Ranish and Kaplan labs, we publish an article in that identifies key residues听within the p52 subunit that control TFIIH function at transcription start sites in human and yeast cells (August 2022).
Review article describing the best听chemical inhibitors for transcription-associated kinases (CDK7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 19) is published in , written with Kevin Clopper. (July 2022)
Lab Manager Dr. Avni Awani听joins the group. 听Welcome! (June 2022)
PhD student Jessica Rodino joins the lab. 听Welcome Jessica! (May 2022)
Undergraduate Xander Woyciehowsky defends his honors thesis and graduates with summa cum laude honors. Great听job, Xander! (May 2022)
PhD student Ariel Eraso is awarded an . 听Congratulations Ariel! (April 2022)
Our "p53 peptide" paper is published in 听This project implemented rational听design听of stapled peptides that selectively block听p53 function in human cancer cells. 听The peptides work not by targeting p53 directly, but rather by blocking the p53-Mediator interaction.听 Because different transcription factors target different Mediator subunits, this innovative听strategy could be broadly applied to selectively alter gene expression programs. 听Collaborative effort with the at UC-Berkeley and the at UC-葫芦娃视频.听(April 2022)
Olivia Luyties publishes a review article in , describing the Mediator kinase module, and how it connects cell signaling with transcription (March, 2022).
Jenna Rimel defends her PhD thesis; congratulations Dr. Rimel! (January 2022)
Review article published as part of a Special Issue in . 听The article describes liquid-liquid phase separation (a.k.a. molecular condensates) and how it听may help regulate pol II transcription in human cells. (October 2021)
September 2021: a two-day lab retreat in Granby, Colorado, near Rocky Mountain National Park.听
Postdoc William Richter joins the lab. (August 2021)
Publication in (Levandowski et al.) that defines how a naturally occurring p53 isoform, called 鈭�40p53,听alters WTp53 function. 听Using a combination of genome-editing, transcriptomics, ChIP-seq, and metabolomics, we establish that 鈭�40p53:WTp53 tetramers fail to induce eRNA transcription, and this yields defects in mRNA biogenesis. 听Under stress response conditions, 鈭�40p53 tempers WTp53 activity, which allows other stimulus-specific TFs (i.e. not p53) to drive the transcriptional responses. (August 2021)
News & Views article published in 听that summarizes the remarkable recent cryoEM structures of the human PIC, including TFIID and Mediator. 听(June 2021)
Publication in 听(Rubin et al.)听that describes TFEA, a computational tool can identify听hundreds of active or repressed DNA-binding transcription factors in a given cell population at听a given point in time, in a single experiment. 听This powerful methodology builds upon the protocol. 听Both methods were developed in the at UC-葫芦娃视频. (June 2021)
PhD students Ariel Eraso and Michael Nagel join the lab. 听(May 2021)
Lab picnic in a 葫芦娃视频 park, still socially distanced (April 2021).听
Undergraduate Kayla Molison is named a , funded by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. 听Congratulations Kayla! (April 2021)
PhD student Megan Palacio is awarded an . 听Nice going Meg! (March 2021)
Publication in that further defined听mechanistic distinctions between human and yeast TFIIH. 听This was a听collaboration led by the Galburt lab (WashU), with key contributions from the Hahn lab and the Tsutakawa lab. 听Using biochemical and biophysical methods, we showed that altered transcription start site听usage in yeast vs. humans is听linked to altered TFIIH dsDNA translocase processivity. Only yeast Ssl2 is processive (human XPB is not) and Ssl2 requires the TFIIH kinase module for activation. (January 2021)
PhD student Kira Cozzolino joins the lab. 听Welcome Kira! (January 2021)
of Rimel et al. paper from Genes & Development (November 2020).
Publication in (Rimel et al.) that uncovers new mechanisms for CDK7 function and regulation within TFIIH. 听The project involved听next-generation inhibitors (in collaboration with ), transcriptomics, biochemical assays and large-scale phosphoproteomics. (October听2020)听
Olivia Luyties is awarded a pre-doctoral F31 fellowship from the NCI, for her studies on CDK7 and CDK9. 听Congratulations Olivia! (August 2020)
The Young lab (MIT) and colleagues published a study in that shows that clinically relevant drugs selectively partition in nuclear condensates, including condensates formed by the Mediator complex. 听This implicates Mediator as a promising therapeutic target and suggests that drug partitioning behaviors impact their clinical efficacy (June 2020).
Article published in (Fant et al.) that used biochemical reconstitution and transcriptomics to discover that TFIID is required to establish听pol II promoter-proximal pausing (May 2020).
Jonathan Rubin defends his PhD thesis. 听Congratulations Dr. Rubin! (May 2020)
Megan Palacio joins our group as a PhD student. 听Welcome to the lab Meg! (May 2020)
Undergraduates John Moir and Robert Meushaw each graduate with summa cum laude honors based upon their stellar academic performance and substantial research contributions. 听Congratulations!
Review article on the structure and mechanism of the pol II transcription machinery published in (April, 2020).
Congratulations to Dr. Cecilia Levandowski, who successfully defended听her PhD thesis (March 2020). Dr. Levandowski now returns to medical school (UC Anschutz听School of Medicine)听to complete her MD.
Jenna Rimel awarded an NCI pre-doctoral fellowship (F31) to pursue her studies on TFIIH and CDK7. 听Congratulations Jenna! (March 2020)
Keystone Symposium on "Gene Regulation: from mechanisms to disease" in Keystone, CO (January, 2020).
Collaborating on听studies completed by the Young lab (MIT), published in (August, 2019) and (December 2019), we further define the phase separation behavior of听Mediator, and how it selectively partitions in molecular condensates that contain听pol II or signaling factors that regulate stimulus-specific TFs.
Cecie听presents her work on the naturally occurring D40p53 isoform at two international p53 isoforms conferences:听Lyon, France (poster; May 2019) and听Dubrovnik, Croatia (talk; November, 2019).
Publication in that describes non-redundant and mechanistically distinct requirements for CDK8 vs. CDK19 during cellular responses to the universal inflammatory cytokine IFNgamma (November, 2019). Work was part of our ongoing collaboration with the (惭笔尝,听痴颈别苍苍补).
Kevin Clopper joins our group as a PhD student. 听Welcome Kevin! (October 2019)
Mechanisms of Eukaryotic Transcription meeting, Cold Spring Harbor, NY (August 2019).
Charli Fant defends her PhD thesis (July 2019). 听Congratulations Dr. Fant!
PhD students Taylor Jones and Olivia Luyties join the lab. 听Welcome! 听(May 2019)
Review article about the , published in Transcription (April, 2019).
Assisting with a Young lab (MIT) study, that establishes functional links between DNA-binding transcription factors, Mediator, and liquid-liquid phase separation.听Mediator itself is shown to听undergo phase separation at low concentration in vitro (December 2018).
Taatjes Lab Halloween Party and Pumpkin Carving Contest听(October 2018).
ASBMB Special Symposium on Chromatin and RNA polymerase II, Snowbird, Utah听(October 2018).
SMICH (Signaling Mechanisms In Cellular Homeostasis) PhD program retreat, sponsored by Austrian Science Fund; Strass im Strassertale, Austria听(September 2018).
听
University of Colorado Biochemistry Retreat in Winter Park, Colorado (September 2018).
Review published in JBC on (September 2018).
Colorado Chromatin and Genome Regulation Meeting (August 2018).
Dr. Tim Decker joins the group as a postdoc, after earning his PhD in the lab of Dirk Eick.听Welcome to the group Tim! (July 2018).
Ph D. student Allison Schier joins the lab.听Welcome Alli! (May 2018).
The lab welcomes Raoul Martin from the Nogales lab as a visiting scholar (April 2018).听
Publication of on听the structure and function of the TFIIH complex in Protein Science听(April 2018).