Yamini Dalal, Ph.D. Investigator and Group Leader 301-496-9247 dalaly@mail.nih.gov Curriculum Vitae (.pdf)

Dr. Yamini Dalal was born and raised in Bombay, India. She became interested in chromosome structure and epigenetic gene regulation during her Baccalaureate years at St. Xavier's College, where she graduated with a double major in Biochemistry and Life Sciences in 1995. She moved to the United States for her post-graduate work, focusing on understanding how DNA sequence motifs can shape the chromatin structure. In Arnold Stein's laboratory at Purdue University , she studied nucleosome positioning in vivo in mouse. The nucleosome positioning could be predicted by in silico, using computational modeling and recapitulated in vitro, using just purified histones and DNA. She also studied how linker histone H1 could influence nucleosome positioning and chromatin folding in vitro and in vivo. She received her Ph.D. from Purdue University in 2003.

Histone variants were the next natural step in teasing out how intrinsic variability in the chromatin fiber can encode a diversity of biological functions. To study this aspect of chromatin structure, Yamini moved to Seattle to work with Dr. Steven Henikoff at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center from 2003-2007. Using a range of biochemical analyses ranging from nuclease assays to electron and atomic force microscopy, she and colleagues uncovered that the centromere-specific histone variant makes a strikingly unusual nucleosome, features of which are reminiscent of the nucleosomes found in the archaebacteria. This work will dominate future research aims of the laboratory.

Yamini’s outside interests range from the literary (all kinds of biology, magical realism, historical and science fiction), to the physical (hiking, biking, skiing, and getting rained on while gardening). She is also an avid explorer of new foods and music.

Rajbir Gill Biologist gillra@mail.nih.gov

Dr. Rajbir Gill was born and raised in India. She received her undergraduate and master degree in biology and moved to the United States for her postgraduate work in Sylvia Christakos laboratory at New Jersey Medical School , where she focused on development of mouse and Chinese Hamster cells lines carrying single human chromosome (monochromosomal hybrid) to map human genes. Using these methods, she studied regulation of calbindin D28K gene expression by steroid hormones. During her graduate work, she also identified cis-acting elements involved in steroid receptor (VDR and ER) mediated gene regulation, and discovered that other coactivators and repressor are involved in gene regulation, in addition to these steroid receptors.

In 2003 Rajbir moved to NCI to Dr. Jin Jen's Laboratory at NCI where she became interested in biomarkers for early detection. She starting developing markers for early lung cancer detection and study genetic changes induced by smoking in small airways epithelial cells (SAEC). Both chromosomal loss and chromosomal gain markers were amplified in SAEC suggesting mitotic arrest as a potential mechanism followed by further changes. To further her interest in understanding epigenetic changes in cancer cells, she moved into the field of chromatin structure and epigenetic mechanisms, under the direction of Dr. Yamini Dalal at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland

Minh Bui Postdoctoral Fellow

Minh is a native Marylander who received his Associates in 2001 from the Montgomery Scholars Program at Montgomery College, Rockville, Maryland. The Scholars Program provided him a full-time academic study abroad scholarship at Cambridge University, UK. After Montgomery College, Minh went on to receive his Baccalaureate in Biological Sciences from University of Maryland, College Park in 2003, and stayed at the University to receive his Ph.D. in Biology in the summer of 2009.

His post-graduate work began in Dr. Marco Colombini's laboratory where he collaborated with postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Leah Siskind to characterize sphingosine channels using biophysical methods. He then joined Dr. Zhongchi Liu's laboratory in 2005 to study transcriptional co-regulation in Arabidopsis. His thesis focused on the transcriptional co-repressors, LEUNIG (LUG) and LEUNIG_HOMOLOG (LUH), homologs of the Drosophila Groucho protein. His work has uncovered that these proteins have redundant and unique roles in flower development. He also recently uncovered a novel role for these proteins in pathogen response. Given his background in using genetic approaches to study transcriptional regulation, it was a natural transition for him to move into the field of chromatin structure and epigenetic regulation for his post-doctoral work, under the direction of Dr. Yamini Dalal at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

His other interests include collecting orchids (to which he has acquired approximately 60 of), other plants, and he has several pets (2 cats and an African grey parrot).

Song is currently a rising sophomore at the University of Maryland College Park double majoring in Cell Physiology & Genetics and Business. He is interested in studying cellular metabolism and mechanisms behind abnormal activities of cancer cells. He plans on attending medical school after his undergraduate studies and continuing his research. His other interests include piano, saxophone, baseball, and snowboarding.

Paul Donlin-Asp Pre-CRTA Fellow

Paul grew up in the very flat and corn filled state of Illinois for the vast majority of his life. He received degree in Bachelors of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May of 2009.

During his final two years of undergraduate studies, he worked in the lab of Dr. Andrew S Belmont . His first year was spent working along side a graduate student assisting with his project, an RNAi based screen in a Drosophila S2 cell line looking for any knockdowns which had an seeming effect on the structure of chromatin. After making sufficient progress with advancing his laboratory skills, he was awarded his own project aimed at understanding the nuclear phenotype resulting from the RNAi knockdown of the protein Supernumerary limbs (Slimb). Now working in the Dalal lab, he aims to further his background in cytology using AFM while gaining experience in both a biochemical approach, and working with colorectal cancer cell lines.

Outside of lab, his interests are widespread and varied. One of which is an almost pathological love of all things associated with winter, which also includes explaining to people that Minnesota is not a frozen barren wasteland. Other interests include reading up on any of a variety of subjects (things from deep sea life, to historical events, to how a LCD TV works), hiking and camping, and religiously sleeping in on Sundays