Personnel
Yosef Refaeli, Ph.D.
Dr. Refaeli has over 18 years of experience in the areas of virology, molecular biology, protein chemistry, immunology, cancer research and genetic manipulation of hematopoietic stem cells. This background has given him extensive expertise in the areas of genetic manipulation of cells and regulation of gene expression and transformation in hematopoietic lineages. Dr. Refaeli graduated from the university of Pennsylvania with an A.B Degree in Biology (cum laude). While he was an undergraduate, Dr. Refaeli participated in research work in the laboratory of Dr. David Weiner, in the Department of Pathology at the Medical School there. The work was focused on the regulation of HIV gene expression with specific emphasis on the accessory gene called VPR. Dr. Refaeli’s work led to the biochemical demonstration that VPR interacts with the glucocorticoid receptor complex and affects gene expression from the viral LTR by hijacking the cellular machinery. That work was the initial data that lead to a Phase II clinical trial with inhibitors of Glucocorticoid receptor function to abrogate HIV infection.
Dr. Refaeli went on to obtain his Ph.D at the Harvard Medical School under the supervision of Dr. Abul Abbas, in the Committee for Immunology. This work pertained to the regulation of cell survival and apoptosis of T-cells following antigenic stimulation in vivo. These studies lead to the development of a novel method to retrovirally transduce primary lymphoid cells and bone marrow derived hematopoietic stem cells in work that was done in collaboration with members of Dr. David Baltimore’ laboratory. Dr. Refaeli then went on to pursue postdoctoral studies under the supervision of Dr. J. Michael Bishop, at the University of California in San Francisco. The studies pursued there were focused on the contribution of signals derived from the antigen receptor and their cooperation with MYC in normal lymphoid homeostasis and malignant transformation.
Dr. Refaeli was hired as an assistant professor at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in October of 2003, where he established his research group and several novel research directions. In 2006, Dr. Refaeli co-founded Taiga Biotechnologies along with Dr. Turner. In April of 2009, Dr. Refaeli joined the Charles C. Gates Program in Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Biology at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine. Dr. Refaeli’s laboratory is currently housed at the AMC campus in Aurora. He currently holds secondary appointments in several departments at the University of Colorado, including the Integrated Department of Immunology, The Program of Molecular Biology as well as in the MD/PhD Training Program.
Dr. Refaeli’s laboratory focuses on three broad areas: first, extending our understanding the contribution of antigen receptor signaling to lymphoid neoplasia, second, understanding the role of proto-oncogenes in the regulation of lymphoid tolerance and disease and third, exploring the role of MYC in the regulation of stem cell proliferation, survival, self-renewal and differentiation. The lab has been funded by grants awarded from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Cancer League of Colorado as well as the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Heart, Lung and Blood, as well as the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Brian C. Turner, Ph.D.
Research Instructor, UCD Department of Dermatology
Brian earned his B.A. in history from Cornell University in 1994. He then spent some time working in the Denver Department of Public Health where he developed an interest in that field. Brian then earned a master’s degree from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. After working in Dr. David Schwartz’s laboratory at JHU, Brian developed an interest in basic biomedical research and in microbiology in particular. Brian then enrolled in the Biological Sciences Graduate Program at the University of Colorado Health Sciences. He then joined Dr. Kathryn Holmes’ laboratory where he earned his Ph.D. in studies related to the molecular determinants of murine coronavirus receptor specificity, CEACAM1. Used site-directed mutagenesis to identify residues involved in resistance and susceptibility to strains of MHV. Brian joined the Refaeli laboratory in 2004. Brian was promoted to the rank of Research Instructor in 2007.
Gregory A. Bird, Ph. D.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Gregory received his undergraduate degree in molecular cellular and developmental biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1995. In 1996 he began working for Cytokine Sciences as a RPA. In 1997 he went to work for Sangamo BioSciences. His job at Sangamo was to clone, express, and test recombinant Zinc-finger DNA binding proteins fused to a transcriptional activation or repression domain. Such factors are now in preclinical and clinical trials for diseases such as Diabetic Neuropathy, HIV/AIDS, and Cancer. In 1999 he began working on his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Dr. David Bentley at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. His research in Dr. Bentley’s lab focused on trying to understand the role the C-terminal domain of RPB1, the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II, plays in pre-mRNA processing and transcription termination. He earned his Ph.D. in 2005. In the spring of 2005 he took a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Bruce Banfield working on Alphaherpesvirus. During the course of his post-doc in the Banfield lab, they established a collaboration with the laboratory of Dr. Yosef Refaeli investigating the use of Alphaherpesesvirus as viral vectors for the treatment of Lymphoma. In 2008, he transitioned full-time into the Refaeli lab.
Elizabeth Brazeau, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Elizabeth completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Washington in Seattle with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology in 1998. After graduating, she changed her focus to biological sciences. She worked as a technician in the genetics department and participated in studies mapping protein interactions using the yeast two-hybrid system in the Fields laboratory. She became interested in infectious disease and began working in the microbiology department where she worked with Kaposi’s sarcoma herpes virus in the Lagunoff laboratory before applying to graduate school in 2003.
She recently completed graduate school at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus with a Ph.D. in microbiology from the Gilden laboratory where she studied varicella viruses, the causative agent of chickenpox and shingles. Her graduate work analyzed the role of varicella zoster ORF 63 in the process of virus-induced apoptosis in culture. She also worked with a simian varicella virus cosmid system in an attempt to generate a virus deleted for both copies of latency associated protein ORF 63, thought to be important for establishment and maintenance of latent infection. Her studies determined that varicella predominantly uses the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis during viral infection. She is excited to be starting a post doctoral fellowship in the Refaeli laboratory (and so happy to be done with graduate school).
Avital Polsky, B.S.
Professional Research Assistant
Avital grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where she developed an appreciation for green chile cheese fries and spent the majority of her free time doing ballet, tap, and jazz from age three to twenty. In the last six years of dancing, she was a member of the Las Cruces Chamber Ballet and a teacher at the dance studio. She continued dancing and teaching into her first three years of college at New Mexico State University (NMSU), and then moved to New York in the Fall of 2005 to study for one year at SUNY Stony Brook. This was followed by a yearlong hiatus from academics working as a dental assistant in Brooklyn and volunteer at Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan (these two years were wonderful, except for the lack of green chile). She returned to NMSU in May of 2007 where she worked under Dr. James Kroger through August of 2008, when she received her BS in Biology and Minor in Philosophy. Avital has been a PRA in the Refaeli lab since November of 2008 and intends to go to graduate school to continue her studies in the field of biology (she’ll pack plenty of green chile wherever she goes).
Dianne Ashby
Professional Research Assistant,Veterinary Technician
Dianne obtained here veterinary training at the Bel-Rea institute of animal technology where she obtained a Vetereinary Technical degree in 2005. She then gained experience as a veterinary technician in the OLAR at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and subsequently at the Biological Resources Center at National Jewish Medical and Research Center. Dianne was designated a group leader at the NJMRC during her last year there. Dianne became a registered Assisatnt Lab Animal Technician in October of 2007 and a registered Lab Animal Technician in January of 2009. She joined our group in April 2009 during our transition to UCD.
Ryan Bjordhal, B.S.
Graduate Student, Immunology Graduate Program