Katharine Ullman
University of Utah, UT·Biology
Every cell nucleus is wrapped in the nuclear envelope, a double membrane that protects the genome's DNA. Proteins in this envelope help organize chromatin (DNA packaged with proteins), position the nucleus and connect it to the cell's internal skeleton.
- Fields
Biology
Biochemistry
Genetics
- Topics
nuclear envelope
nuclear membrane
mitosis
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Determine how LEM2, an inner nuclear membrane protein, helps organize the newly forming nuclear envelope after cell division, using timelapse microscopy and proximity labeling to identify nearby proteins.
- Define the protein motifs that direct proteins to core regions (sites of microtubule remodeling) or non-core regions (sites of rapid nuclear pore formation), and how the core region is dissolved.
- Investigate why a subset of micronuclei, small nuclei formed around mis-segregated chromosomes, assemble a fragile nuclear envelope.
- Test how LEM2 helps the interphase nuclear envelope withstand induced membrane deformation, and how disease-associated LEM2 alleles alter this resilience.
More about the research
Damage to the envelope is linked to several aging-related diseases and contributes to genome instability in cancer. Each time a mammalian cell divides, the nucleus is taken apart and rebuilt, and even afterward the envelope must keep adapting to stay intact. This research asks how the nuclear envelope forms and how its shape and organization are maintained.
Why it matters
This work could clarify how mutations in nuclear envelope proteins such as LEM2 cause human disease. It may also shed light on cancer, where rupture of the nuclear envelope, including at micronuclei, can lead to DNA damage and genome instability.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Ashwanth Christopher Francis
Florida State University, FL·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine whether phase separation by the mixed-charge RSLD region of CPSF6, a host RNA-processing protein, releases HIV-1 from nuclear pore complexes and recruits host proteins and nuclear speckle components needed for viral transport.
Jennifer Schwarz
Syracuse University, NY·Physics
Determine how compressing a cell deforms and damages its nucleus, and how the nuclear shell adapts by resealing after blebbing and rupture, using experiments and computational models.
Chenshu Liu
Lehigh University, PA·Genetics
Determine how the force-sensing ion channel Piezo works at the oocyte nuclear envelope to relay a signal that triggers cell death after synapsis fails in the C. elegans germline.
The school
University of Utah: 58 labs on PI Pages, $789M a year on research, 366 research doctorates a year.
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