Xazmin Lowman

E-mail: lowma006@umn.edu

Year entered: 2007

Thesis Advisor: Ameeta Kelekar

Degree received:
B.S., Physiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 2006

Honors and Awards:

• Graduate School DOVE Fellowship, 2007-2008

Thesis Research:
The pro-apoptotic BH3-only protein Noxa is the shortest Bcl-2 protein known. It has a 54 amino acid sequence that contains putative binding domains and phosphorylation sites that provide evidence of its mechanistic and regulatory functions. Preliminary data from our lab shows that Noxa localizes to the nucleus in the absence of a death stimulus. In addition, growth assays of varying Noxa cell lines shows Noxa-low cells have a slower rate of division. Altogether, my research hypothesizes that Noxa has a unique role in the cell cycle that is due to its interaction with its anti-apoptotic binding partner, Mcl-1 via the BH3 domain. .