Nancy A. Woychik Associate Professor UMDNJ-RWJMS Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology & Immunology UMDNJ Research & School of Public Health Building. Room 286 683 Hoes Lane Piscataway. NJ 08854-5635 (732) 235-4534 FAX - 5037 nancy.woychik@umdnj.edu Visit Dr. Woychik's Lab!!

Aging; Viral/Bacterial Pathogenesis; Cancer

Our laboratory applies our expertise in eukaryotic transcription and/or yeast as a model system to better understand certain molecular features important in aging. cancer and viral/bacterial pathogenesis. We are using Saccharomyces cerevisiae to study how a family of genes shown to increase lifespan in mice and Drosophila affect yeast lifespan. Once we learn more about this process in yeast we will apply our knowledge to studies in higher organisms. We are also studying how infection with vaccinia virus (a model system for the smallpox virus) or the obligate intracellular bacterial pathogen Chlamydia affect host cell transcription. Finally. we are studying transcriptional alterations in embryonic stem cells and human cancer cell lines.

Recent Publications

Liu M, Zhang Y, Inouye M, Woychik NA. (2008) Bacterial addiction module toxin Doc inhibits translation elongation through its association with the 30S ribosomal subunit. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 105(15):5885-90.

Suzuki. M.. Zhang. J.. Liu. M.. Woychik. N. A. and Inouye. M.(2005) Single protein production in living cells facilitated by an mRNA interferase. Mol. Cell. 16:253-261.

Tan. Q.. Prysak. M. H. and Woychik. N. A. (2003) Loss of the Rpb4/Rpb7 subcomplex in a mutant form of the Rpb6 subunit shared by RNA polymerases I. II and III. Mol. Cell. Biol. 23:3329-3338.

Woychik. N. A. (2003) RNA polymerases and the eukaryotic transcription machinery. Encyclopedia of the Human Genome. Nature Publishing Group. London (online textbook at www.ehgonline.net)

Woychik. N. A.. Hampsey. M. (2002) The RNA polymerase II machinery: structure illuminates function. Cell 108:453-463.

Miyao. T.. Barnett. J.D. and Woychik. N. A. (2001) Deletion of the RNA polymerase subunit RPB4 acts as a global. not stress-specific. shut-off switch for RNA polymerase II transcription at high temperatures. J. Biol. Chem. 276:46408-46413 .

Woychik. N. A. and Reinberg. D. (2001) RNA polymerases: subunits and functional domains. Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. Nature Publishing Group. London (online textbook at www.els.net)

Tan. Q.. Linask. K. L.. Ebright. R. H.and Woychik. N. A. (2000) Activation mutants in yeast RNA polymerase II subunit RPB3 provide evidence for a structurally conserved surface required for activation in eukaryotes and bacteria. Genes Dev. 14:339-348.

Woychik. N. A. (2000) TA-TAAA!! Transcription unveiled. Trends Biochem. Sci. 25:404.

Tan. Q.. Li. X.. Sadhale. P. P.. Miyao. T. and Woychik. N.A. (2000) Multiple mechanisms of suppression circumvent transcription defects in an RNA polymerase mutant. Mol. Cell. Biol. 20:8124-8133.