Department of Biological Sciences

Dr. Teresa Golden

Assistant Professor
 

Education:

State University of New York at Albany, BS in Biology

University of Rochester, M.S. & Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics

University of South Alabama, Post-doctoral fellowship

Office: Biological Sciences Building, Room 241

Phone: 580-745-2286

FAX: 580-745-7459

Email: tgolden@se.edu

Advising:

Biotechnology
Biological Health Science Option
 

History:

 I attended college at the University of NY at Albany. While working on my BS in Biology I did undergraduate research on yeast in the lab of Dr. Richard Zitomer as well as working summers in the NYS Dept of Health in a sanitary bacteriology laboratory as a chemist’s aide.

 With a strong interest in genetics and molecular biology I began the MS/PhD. program in the Dept of Biology at the University of Rochester in the Fall of 1992. I joined the lab of Dr. Animesh Ray with the goal of investigating the SIN1 (Short Integuments 1) gene to determine its role in controlling flowering time in plants. Under Dr. Ray’s guidance I cloned the SIN1 gene, which led to filling and eventually receiving a patent. Besides its obvious role in flowering time, the SIN1 gene (now named DICER-LIKE1) is part of a new class of RNA processing enzymes involved in ‘gene silencing’ now better known as RNA interference. Gene silencing (originally recognized in plants) has since proven to be a breakthrough area of research illustrating a mechanism of RNA-mediated gene regulation of critical importance in many organisms including humans.

 After completion of my PhD in 1999, I decided to pursue a completely different research interest and began a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Richard Honkanen in the Dept of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Medical School at the University of South Alabama. There, I studied a class of genes called Phosphatases. Phosphatases are enzymes that play an important role in cell signaling cascades by catalyzing the removal of phosphate groups from proteins to either inactivate or activate them.

 Current Research interests:

 My ongoing goal is to examine the roles of Phosphatases in the development of human cancer and explore their potential use as drug targets for a treatment of cancer. In the lab now the students and I are specifically studying Protein Phosphatase 5 (PP5). PP5 expression is increased in breast cancer cells. Current work suggests that this increase helps make the cancer cells more resistant to stress resulting from low oxygen conditions (common in tumors). We are studying the signaling pathways involved in surviving this cell stress.

Publications:

1. Ray, A., Lang, J.D., Golden, T., and Ray, S. (1996). SHORT INTEGUMENT  (SIN1), a gene required for ovule development in Arabidopsis, also   controls flowering time. Development 122: 2631-2638.

2. Ray, S., Golden, T., and Ray, A., (1996). Maternal effects of the short integument 1 mutation on embryo development in Arabidopsis. Devel. Biology 180: 365-369.

3. Urban, G., Golden, T., Aragon, I.V., Scammell, J.G., Dean, N.M., and Honkanen, R.E., (2001). Identification of an Estrogen-inducible Phosphatase (PP5) that converts MCF-7 human breast carcinoma cells into an Estrogen-independent phenotype when expressed constitutively. JBC  276: 27638–27646.

4. Golden, T., Dean, N.M., and Honkanen, R.E. (2002). Use of antisense oligonucleotides: Advantages, controls, and cardiovascular tissue. Microcirculation 9: 51-64.

5. Honkanen, R.E. and Golden T. (2002). Regulators of serine/threonine protein phosphatases at the dawn of a clinical era? Current Medicinal Chemistry 9(22): 2055-2075.

6. Golden, T.A., Schauer, S.E., Lang, J.D., Pien, S., Mushegian, A.R., Grossniklaus, U., Meinke, D.W., and Ray, A. (2002). SHORT INTEGUMENTS1 / SUSPENSOR1 / CARPEL FACTORY, a Dicer homologue, is a maternal-effect gene required for embryo development in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology 130(2): 808-822.

7. Urban, G., Golden, T., Aragon, I.V., Cowsert, L., Cooper S.R., Dean, N.M., and Honkanen, R.E., (2003). Identification of a functional link for the p53 tumor suppressor protein in Dexamethasone-induced growth suppression. JBC 278: 9747–9753.

8. Golden, T.A, Honkanen, R.E. (2003). Regulating the expression of Protein Phosphatase type 5. Methods Enzymol. 366: 372-90.

9.  Zhou, G., Golden, T., Aragon, I.V., and Honkanen, R.E., (2004). Ser/Thr protein phosphatase 5 inactivates hypoxia-induced activation of an apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1/MKK-4/JNK signaling cascade. JBC 279: 46595-46605.

10.  Golden, T., Aragon, I.V., Zhou, G., Cooper, S.R., Dean, N.M., and Honkanen, R.E., (2004). Constitutive over expression of serine/threonine protein phosphatase 5 (PP5) augments estrogen-dependent tumor growth in mice. Cancer Lett. 215:95-100.

Patent:

Animesh Ray and Teresa Golden, "Gene encoding SHORT INTEGUMENTS1 and uses thereof" Issued May 18, 2004, US 6,737,561 B1.
 

Spring 2008 Course Schedule:

Principles of Biology I (BIOL 1404) MWF 12:00-12:50 in BS 203

Genetics (BIOL 3404)  MWF 10:00-10:50 in BS203
    Genetics Lab Tues. 1-3, 3-5 in BS217

Cell and Molecular Biology (BIOL 3824) MWF 9:00-9:50 in BS201
    Cell and Molecular Biology Lab Thurs. 1-4 in BS217

 Senior Seminar (BIOL 4981) 11:00-11:50 in BS203  

Office Hours:

Mon. 1-5, Tues. 9-12, Thurs. 9-11, 4-5 and by appointment

Last Modified:  January 11, 2008