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Scientific Contributions
Cloned and demonstrated motor activity of MKLP1.
As as graduate student in Dick McIntosh’s laboratory, I injected several dozen antibodies into mitotic fibroblasts and identified one that caused a dramatic mitotic arrest. I used this antibody to clone the gene, raised antisera against the recombinant protein and demonstrated that the gene protein was a mitotic kinesin. This discovery was highlighted in nature magazine along with three other laboratories that independently discovered distinct mitotic kinesins.
Nislow, C., Lombillo, V.L., Kuriyama, R.K. and J.R. McIntosh. 1992. A plus-end-directed motor enzyme moves antiparallel microtubules in vitro and localizes to the interzone of mitotic spindles. Nature. 359:543-547.
Discovered, cloned and purified the yeast SET domain methyltransferases, SET1.
This was the first trithorax homolog found in yeast and suggested that the levels of chromatin control over gene expression are, in many ways, as complex as metazoans.
Nislow, C., E. Ray and L. Pillus. 1997. SET1, a yeast member of the trithorax family functions in transcriptional silencing and diverse cellular processes. Mol. Biol of the Cell. 8:2421-2436
Led the Enzyme Discovery Team at MJ Bioworks, Inc.
The team discovered a small double-stranded DNA binding protein from Sulfotaricus sulfolubus that showed high processivity and fidelity and now marketed as “Phusion polymeraseTM”.
Multiple roles at Cytokinetics, Inc.
Cytokinetics, Inc., is a publicly traded clinical-stage biotechnology company in the San Francisco Bay area with several products in phase I and II clinical trials. During my time at Cytokinetics I established the Fungal Discovery Program, defined (with David Drubin) the Program’s goals, hired and secured two NIH grants to support continued development of the program.
Produced the first comprehensive genome-wide map of nucleosome occupancy in an organism.
In an article published in September 2007, I directed a talented team that produced a high resolution map of the position of each of all 70,000 yeast nucleosomes.