Education B.S. Chemistry, 1992, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE Ph.D., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 1996,University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE Postdoctoral Fellow, 1996-2000, Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
The Olivas lab studies how members of the Puf family of eukaryotic RNA-binding proteins stimulate the degradation of specific mRNAs, thus controlling protein production from those mRNAs. We use both the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae model system as well as human cell lines to perform experiments investigating the mechanisms by which Puf proteins stimulate mRNA degradation and the pathways by which Puf protein activity is altered by varying environmental conditions.