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Bethany Janowski, PhD
Contact Information
UT Southwestern Medical Center
5323 Harry Hines Boulevard
Dallas, Texas 75390
Office Phone: 214-645-6127
Office Fax: 214-645-6131
Biography
Dr. Bethany Janowski received her BS from the University of Wisconsin in 1988 and a MS in Biological Sciences, with an emphasis in neuroendocrinology in 1990. Dr. Janowski moved to Dallas in 1993 to attend graduate school at UT Southwestern. She joined the lab of Dr. Mangelsdorf in the Department of Pharmacology. While in graduate school, Dr. Janowski discovered that oxidized cholesterol was the ligand for the "orphan" nuclear hormone receptor, LXR. This discovery correctly suggested that LXR was a key regulator of cholesterol homeostasis. Her identification and extensive study of these oxidized cholesterol ligands for the LXR receptor became the foundation for medicinal chemistry/drug development for LXR. In 1998 she was awarded the Alfred Gilman Award in Pharmacology and in 1999 received her PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology in 1999. Postdoctoral training included further study in cholesterol regulation in the Department of Molecular Genetics, and developing new strategies for silencing gene expression in the Center for Biomedical Inventions at UT Southwestern.
Dr. Janowski joined the faculty in the Department of Pharmacology in 2004. In 2005 she discovered that RNA silences endogenous genes at the level of the chromosome. In 2007 she discovered that RNA can specifically activate gene expression inside cells. Her current research focuses on studying how endogenous regulatory RNAs regulate nuclear hormone receptor gene expression inside cells.
Education
| Graduate School | University of Texas Southwestern Med Ctr Dallas (1999) |
| Graduate School | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1990) |
| Undergraduate | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Zoology (1988) |
Research Interests
Publications
Janowski, B. A. , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , October 2002; (99):12675-80
Janowski, B.A., Willy, P.J., Rama Devi, T., Falck, J.R., Mangelsdorf, D.J. , Nature , October 1996; (383):728-731
Peet, D.J., Turley, S.D., Ma, W., Janowski, B.A., Lobaccaro, J.A., Hammer, R.E., Mangelsdorf, D.J. , Cell , May 1998; (93):693-704
Janowski, B.A., Grogan, M.J., Jones, S., Wisely, G.B., Kliewer, S.A., Corey, E.J., Mangelsdorf, D.J. , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , January 1999; (96):266-271
Janowski, B.A., Huffman, K.E., Schwartz, J.C., Ram, R., Shames, D.S., Minna, J.D., Corey, D.R. , Nature Structural and Molecular Biology , September 2006; (13):787
Janowski, B. A., Kaihatsu, K., Huffman, K. E., Schwartz, J., Ram, R., Hardy, D., Mendelson, C.R., and Corey, D. R. , Nature Chemical Biology , September 2005; (1):210-215
Janowski, B. A., Huffman, K. E., Schwartz, J., Ram, R., Hardy, D., Shames, D. S., Minna, J. D., and Corey, D. R. , Nature Chemical Biology , September 2005; (1):216-222
Janowski, B.A., Younger, S.T., Hardy, D.B., Ram, R., Huffman, K.E., Corey, D.R. , Nature Chemical Biology , March 2007; (3):166
Schwartz, J. C., Younger S. T., Nguyen N., Hardy D., Prakash T., Bhat B., Monia B., Corey D.R. and *Janowski B.A. , Nature Structural & Molecular Biology , January 2008; (15):842-848
Honors/Awards
Mechanism of Promoter-Directed RNAs on Gene Transcription (2008)
RNA Switches at Gene Promoters: Turning off Cancer Cell Proliferation (2008)
Using RNA to turn off genes within chromosomal DNA (2005)
Best Ph.D. thesis in the Department of Pharmacology (1998)
Presented Ph.D. thesis work: discovery of new cholesterol signaling pathway (1998)