Research Summary
Our research utilizes in vitro biophysical/biochemical and in cell genomics approaches to delineate the mechanisms by which the ZBTB family of methyl-CpG binding proteins (MBPs) recognize their DNA and protein targets to regulate cancer relevant transcription. Mounting evidence indicates that ZBTB MBP transcriptional activities mediate cancer progression, however, detailed mechanistic insight for DNA recognition and subsequent transcription regulated by each protein remains to be examined.
Education
- B.S., Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
- Ph.D., Chemistry, University of Minnesota
- Postdoctoral Fellowship, Biophysics, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla
Biography
Bethany Buck-Koehntop began her education at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, where she graduated in 2000 with a B.S. in Chemistry. Her doctoral work was conducted under the guidance of Prof. Gianluigi Veglia at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities where she cultivated her interests in biophysical chemistry and structural biology by utilizing solution and solid-state NMR to characterize the structure, function and membrane topology of transmembrane proteins. After receiving her Ph.D. in 2005, she joined the laboratory of Prof. Peter E. Wright at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. During her postdoctoral training, she combined biochemical and structural elucidation methodologies to expand our understanding of nucleic acid recognition by zinc finger proteins. Of particular note, Bethany elucidated the first structure of a zinc finger protein bound to methylated DNA, illuminating the first molecular details for zinc finger recognition of this essential epigenetic mark. For this important work, Bethany was supported by an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2011, Bethany began as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Utah. The research in her independent laboratory is focused on utilizing parallel in vitro biophysical/biochemical and in cell genomics approaches to delineate the mechanisms by which the ZBTB family of methyl-CpG binding proteins (MBPs) recognize their cognate DNA and protein targets to regulate transcription in the cancerous state.