The Knoepfler Lab conducts stem and cancer cell as well as chromatin/epigenetics research at the UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA 95817

Please visit Dr. Knoepfler’s departmental site .

You can contact Dr. Knoepfler at: knoepfler@ucdavis.edu .

The Knoepfler Lab currently receives funding from NIH, CIRM, and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

Research. The Knoepfler Lab is interested in epigenetics and chromatin, and the cellular machinery that regulates these states normally in stem cells and aberrantly in cancer and in birth defects. We were the first to argue for the new paradigm of the Myc protein, which has important roles in cancer and pluripotency, fulfilling a global chromatin function in addition to being a gene-specific transcription factor. We have followed that up with functional genomics and other studies over the last several years. Our recent 2011 paper on Miz-1 and Myc achieved three milestones. It was the first  functional genomics study of Miz-1, it was the first paper to study Myc genomic function in human ESC (interestingly all the other studies were in mouse ESC), and it was the first to study in parallel the genomic function of Myc and a cofactor. We are also interested in basic chromatin and epigenomics events. An overriding goal for our work is to translate our findings into the real world and have an impact on human health.

Lab Members

Dr. Paul Knoepfler is an Associate Professor in Cell Biology and Human Anatomy at the UC Davis School of Medicine, and a faculty member of the UC Davis Genome Center, Cancer Center (where he is the leader of the Cancer Stem Cell Initiative) and  the Institute for Regenerative Cures. Dr. Knoepfler is also an Assistant Investigator of the Institute for Pediatric Regenerative Medicine at Shriners Hospital of Northern California. Dr. Knoepfler did his postdoctoral training focused on Myc chromatin function in stem and tumor cells in Bob Eisenman’s Lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle with support from a fellowship from the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research and a Special Fellowship from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He received his Ph.D. from UCSD School of Medicine in Molecular Pathology with support from a Lucille P. Markey Fellowship. He received his B.A. in English Literature from Reed College in Portland, OR.

Dr. Bonnie Barrilleaux is a post-doctoral fellow whose research interests include adult and induced pluripotent stem cell technology, viral gene transfer, flow cytometry, 3D cell culture techniques, and cell migration and differentiation. She completed a dual M.S./Ph.D. program in Biomedical Sciences and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Tulane University, as a Louisiana Board of Regents Fellow. She received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dana Burow is a CIRM Bridges Masters Student

 

 

Kelly Bush is an SRA in the lab, studying chromatin function in stem cells.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rebecca Cotterman is the Lab Manager. Science projects include studying epigenetic regulation of embryonic stem cells and neuroblastoma.  Also interested in aikido and PTA meetings.

 

 

 

Agnieszka (Agnes) Laskowski is currently a third year graduate student in the BMCDB (Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology) Graduate Program at UCD.  Prior to starting graduate school she recieved her BS in Biochemistry from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Her primary research interest is in stem cell biology focusing on the stem cell specific transcriptional network regulating global gene expression as well as overall global chromatin structure.

Marnie Morales is a graduate student in the Neuroscience Ph.D. program at UC Davis.  Before attending graduate school in California, she earned her B.S. in Biological Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Her research interests are in neural stem cell biology and its applications in regenerative medicine. Her other interests include outdoor sports, competitive ballroom dancing, and motorcycle riding.

 

PoYuan Tung is a UC Davis BMCDB Graduate Student.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Natasha Varlakhanova is a post-doctoral fellow studying Myc function in ES cells.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amanda Verde is a CIRM Bridges Masters Student.

 

 

 

 

Benjamin Yuen is a BMCDB graduate student.