Molecular Biology

Faculty and Research Interests

Randy Strich, PhD

Associate Professor
Science Center 354
856-566-6043
strichra@umdnj.edu

Education

University of Illinois at Urbana, IL
PhD (Microbiology) , 1986

University of Illinois at Urbana, IL
MS (Microbiology) , 1983

University of Pennsylvania, PA
BA (Biology) , 1980

Research Interests

Our research focuses on two main questions.   First, resistance to anti-cancer agents is the predominant reason why chemotherapy regimens fail to eradicate disseminated malignancies. Therefore, elucidating the resistance mechanisms is of great importance for improving patient outcome. The pathway that responds to reactive oxygen species (ROS) appears to be of singular importance for influencing drug sensitivity. My laboratory identified the conserved yeast cyclin C-cyclin dependent kinase 8 as important regulators of the ROS response and programmed cell death in budding yeast.   We are currently expanding these studies into the mouse system to determine how this pathway influences drug sensitivity in both normal and transformed cells.

Second, meiosis is a specialized, highly conserved process designed to redistribute the genetic material and produce haploid cells capable of sexual reproduction. Unlike mitotic cell division, little is known about how the different meiotic landmark events are coordinated. My laboratory investigates the regulation of genes required for meiotic development in the budding yeast S. cerevisiae.   Specifically, we are studying the interplay between transcription factor regulation and chromatin remodeling that mediates the transient transcription expression profiles observed during meiosis  

Recent Publications

1. Bourbon, H.M., Aguilera, A., Ansari, A.Z., Asturias, F.J., Berk, A.J., Bjorklund, S., Blackwell, T.K., Borggrefe, T., Carey, M., Carlson, M., et al. (2004). A Unified Nomenclature for Protein Subunits of Mediator Complexes Linking Transcriptional Regulators to RNA Polymerase II. Mol Cell 14, 553-557.
2. Dimitrova, I., Toby, G.G., Tilid, E., Strich, R., Kampranis, S.C., and Makrisa, A.M. (2004). Expression of Bax in yeast affects not only the mitochondria but 3 also vacuolar integrity and intracellular protein traffic. FEBS Lett 566, 100-104.
3. Strich, R. (2004). Meiotic DNA Replication. In Current Topics in Developmental Biology, G. Schatten, ed. (San Diego, CA: Elsevier Inc.), pp. 29-60.
4. Strich, R., Mallory, M.J., Jarnik, M., and Cooper, K.F. (2004). Cyclin B-Cdk activity stimulates meiotic re-replication in budding yeast. Genetics 167, 1621-1628.
5. Strich, R. (2005). Protein interaction analysis: suppressor hunting. In Encyclopedic Reference of Genomics and Proteomics in Molecular Medicine, K. Ruckpaul, and D. Ganten, eds. (Heidelberg, Germany: Springer-Verlag).
6. Krasely, E., Cooper, K.F., Mallory, M.J., Dunbrack, R.L., Jr., and Strich, R. (2006). Regulation of the Oxidative Stress Response Through Slt2p-Dependent Destruction of Cyclin C in S. cerevisiae. Genetics 172, 1477-1486.
7. Krasely, E., Mallory, M., Tan, G.T., and Strich, R. (2007). Stress-Induced Destruction of the Yeast C-type Cyclin Requires Nuclear Export and Mitochondrial Association. Mol. Biol. Cell In Revision.
8. Mallory, M.J., Cooper, K.F., and Strich, R. (2007). Meiosis-specific destruction of the Ume6p transcriptional repressor by the Cdc20-directed APC/C. Mol. Cell. 27:951-961.
9. Cooper, K.F., Mallory, M.J., Guacci, V., and Strich, R. (2007). Pds1p is required for recombination and meiotic progression in S. cerevisiae. Genetics.   In revision.