Barbara J. Graves
Professor
Department of Oncological Sciences
Huntsman Cancer Institute
United States of America
Biography
Barbara Graves, PhD, is professor of the Department of Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She is a member of the Nuclear Control Program of the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Dr. Graves joined the faculty of the University of Utah in 1986 in the Department of Cellular, Viral and Molecular Biology. Upon the foundation of the Huntsman Cancer Institute in 1994 she became one of the founding members of the Department of Oncological Sciences. She served as Department Chair for 10 years as well as Senior Director for Basic Science at HCI for 4 years. Graves research focuses on how genes are turned on and off by regulatory proteins called transcription factors. Transcription is the process by which genetic code information passes from one cell to another. This gene expression process is essential for normal cell behavior and often goes awry in a cancer cell. A thorough understanding of how transcription factors and other molecular mechanisms control gene expression can lead to innovative new therapies and treatments for a variety of cancers. Graves's current focus is ETS transcription factors which are altered in human sarcomas, prostate cancer, and a variety of hematological malignancies.A graduate of Rice University, Graves earned her PhD from the University of Washington and completed postdoctoral training at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and the Carnegie Institute of Washington. Dr. Graves currently spends part of her time in the Washington, DC area serving as a Senior Scientific Officer of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Research Interest
ETS Family DNA-Protein Interactions Transcription Signal Transduction
Publications
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Hollenhorst PC, Ferris MW, Hull MA, Chae H, Kim S, Graves BJ (2011). Oncogenic ETS proteins mimic activated RAS/MAPK signaling in prostate cells. Genes Dev, 25(20), 2147-57.
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Coyne HJ 3rd, De S, Okon M, Green SM, Bhachech N, Graves BJ, McIntosh LP (2012). Autoinhibition of ETV6 (TEL) DNA binding: appended helices sterically block the ETS domain. J Mol Biol, 421(1), 67-84.
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Desjardins G, Meeker CA, Bhachech N, Currie SL, Okon M, Graves BJ, McIntosh LP (2014). Synergy of aromatic residues and phosphoserines within the intrinsically disordered DNA-binding inhibitory elements of the Ets-1 transcription factor. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 111(30), 11019-24.
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Desjardins G, Okon M, Graves BJ, McIntosh LP (2016). Conformational Dynamics and the Binding of Specific and Nonspecific DNA by the Autoinhibited Transcription Factor Ets-1. Biochemistry, 55(29), 4105-18.
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De S, Okon M, Graves BJ, McIntosh LP (2016). Autoinhibition of ETV6 DNA Binding Is Established by the Stability of Its Inhibitory Helix. J Mol Biol, 428(8), 1515-30.
