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Guillaume Francois Chanfreau, Ph.D.

Laboratory Address:
Young Hall 4034,4044

Work Address:
Young Hall 4054A

Affiliations
Affiliations
Lab Director, Chanfreau Lab
Professor, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology
Associate Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Member, Gene Regulation GPB Home Area, Graduate Program in Biochemistry, Molecular and Structural Biology, JCCC Gene Regulation Program Area, Molecular Biology Institute
Researcher, Biochemistry, Development and Gene Regulation, Proteomics and Bioinformatics
Research Interests
We are interested in how eukaryotic cells regulate their gene expression programs, focusing most particularly on the post-transcriptional steps. A first research topic in the laboratory is focused on the study the the S.cerevisiae homolog of RNase III, a model enzyme to understand the function of a double-stranded RNA endonuclease in the biology of eukaryotic cells. We have shown that this enzyme is implicated in the processing of a large number of non coding RNAs, as well as in the surveillance of many mRNAs, including some controlling iron uptake. Genomic studies are being performed to understand the genomic targets of this enzyme as well as other ribonucleases. A second research topic is focused on the biogenesis of small nucleolar ribonucleoprotein particles (snoRNPs). Box H/ACA snoRNPs are crucial molecules in the metabolism of ribosomal RNA, and this class of snoRNPs has gained widespread interest since it was discovered that mutations within H/ACA snoRNP components lead to the genetic disease dyskeratosis congenita. We have discovered a novel complex of two yeast proteins that are required for the biogenesis of box H/ACA snoRNPs. Our current work is focused on elucidating the mechanisms by which these proteins promote the assembly of the snoRNP.
Biography

Professor Chanfreau was born and raised in Paris France in 1968 and did his undergraduate studies in Lyon, France. He graduated in 1989, and then spent a year preparing for the highest competitive examination for teachers in France (Agregation), which he obtained in 1990. After a one-year hiatus in the army for his military service in the mountain infantry in the French alps, he started his graduate studies in 1991 at the Pasteur Institute in Paris to work on intron ribozymes with Dr Alain Jacquier. He graduated in 1995 and decided to go to San Francisco for his postdoctoral studies, to work with Christine Guthrie and learn yeast genetics. He went back to Paris in 1997 after obtaining a position of research scientist at the CNRS, but decided to go back to the US in 1999, when he joined the ranks of the faculty at UCLA. He married his wife Catherine in 2001, and they are raising two sons, Antoine, born in 2003 and Jeremy, born in 2005. Aside from research, teaching and raising his kids, Professor Chanfreau enjoys going scuba diving and making movies out of his dives. His favorite diving destinations are the "golden triangle" Galapagos-Cocos-Malpelo Island in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. His movies have been projected at several underwater film festivals.

Publications
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