Katharine S. Ullman

Katharine S. Ullman, PhD

Languages spoken: English

Academic Information

Departments Adjunct - Biochemistry , Primary - Oncological Sciences

Academic Office Information

katharine.ullman@hci.utah.edu

Lab

Katharine Ullman, PhD, is Senior Director of Cancer Training and Career Enhancement at the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI). She is has been an HCI Investigator since 1998 and is a professor in the Department of Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah School of Medicine, an adjunct professor in the Department of Biochemistry, and a member and past leader of the Cancer Biology and Microenvironment Program. She served as the Associate Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Utah from 2016-2023.

Ullman and her research team focus on the coordination of cell division, with a particular interest in how disassembly and assembly of nuclear architecture is integrated with other events of cell division. The nucleus harbors a specialized environment, optimized to protect and regulate the cell's DNA. Mis-coordination of cellular remodeling during division leaves the DNA vulnerable to damage and mis-regulation. Elucidating this aspect of cell cycle control opens a new avenue to understanding cell function and how mistakes in division may contribute to tumorigenesis.

Ullman earned a PhD from Stanford University before going to the University of California at San Diego for her postdoctoral studies, which were funded in part by the American Cancer Society. She is a recipient of a Burroughs Wellcome Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences and a Scholar award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Ullman was selected an Allen Distinguished Investigator, a Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group advised program of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation in 2020.

Education History

Undergraduate Northwestern University
 BA
Doctoral Training Stanford University
 PhD
Postdoctoral Training University of California at San Diego
 Postdoctoral Training

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Couldwell GC, Vincent-Mueller JN, Mackay DR, Jensen CC, Stubben CJ, Li L, Tan AC, Sundquist WI, Ullman K (2025). RNA splicing is required for timely completion of abscission and is modulated by the abscission checkpoint. bioRxiv,
  2. Paine EL, Skalicky JJ, Whitby FG, Mackay DR, Ullman KS, Hill CP, Sundquist W (2023). The Calpain-7 protease functions together with the ESCRT-III protein IST1 within the midbody to regulate the timing and completion of abscission. eLife, 12,
  3. Wenzel DM, Mackay DR, Skalicky JJ, Paine EL, Miller MS, Ullman KS, Sundquist W (2022). Comprehensive analysis of the human ESCRT-III-MIT domain interactome reveals new cofactors for cytokinetic abscission. eLife, 11,
  4. LaJoie D, Turkmen AM, Mackay DR, Jensen CC, Aksenova V, Niwa M, Dasso M, Ullman K (2022). A role for Nup153 in nuclear assembly reveals differential requirements for targeting of nuclear envelope constituents. Molecular biology of the cell, 33(13), ar117.
  5. Strohacker LK, Mackay DR, Whitney MA, Couldwell GC, Sundquist WI, Ullman K (2021). Identification of abscission checkpoint bodies as structures that regulate ESCRT factors to control abscission timing. eLife, 10,
  6. von Appen A, LaJoie D, Johnson IE, Trnka MJ, Pick SM, Burlingame AL, Ullman KS, Frost (2020). LEM2 phase separation promotes ESCRT-mediated nuclear envelope reformation. Nature, 582(7810), 115-118.
  7. Wigington CP, Roy J, Damle NP, Yadav VK, Blikstad C, Resch E, Wong CJ, Mackay DR, Wang JT, Krystkowiak I, Bradburn DA, Tsekitsidou E, Hong SH, Kaderali MA, Xu SL, Stearns T, Gingras AC, Ullman KS, Ivarsson Y, Davey NE, Cyert M (2020). Systematic Discovery of Short Linear Motifs Decodes Calcineurin Phosphatase Signaling. Molecular cell, 79(2), 342-358.e12.
  8. Sadler JBA, Wenzel DM, Williams LK, Guindo-Martínez M, Alam SL, Mercader JM, Torrents D, Ullman KS, Sundquist WI, Martin-Serrano (2018). A cancer-associated polymorphism in ESCRT-III disrupts the abscission checkpoint and promotes genome instability. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(38), E8900-E8908.
  9. Mackay DR, Howa AC, Werner TL, Ullman K (2017). Nup153 and Nup50 promote recruitment of 53BP1 to DNA repair foci by antagonizing BRCA1-dependent events. Journal of cell science, 130(19), 3347-3359.
  10. Gu M, LaJoie D, Chen OS, von Appen A, Ladinsky MS, Redd MJ, Nikolova L, Bjorkman PJ, Sundquist WI, Ullman KS, Frost (2017). LEM2 recruits CHMP7 for ESCRT-mediated nuclear envelope closure in fission yeast and human cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114(11), E2166-E2175.
  11. Mackay DR, Ullman K (2015). ATR and a Chk1-Aurora B pathway coordinate postmitotic genome surveillance with cytokinetic abscission. Molecular biology of the cell, 26(12), 2217-26.
  12. Sundquist WI, Ullman K (2015). CELL BIOLOGY. An ESCRT to seal the envelope. Science (New York, N.Y.), 348(6241), 1314-5.
  13. Chow KH, Elgort S, Dasso M, Powers MA, Ullman K (2014). The SUMO proteases SENP1 and SENP2 play a critical role in nucleoporin homeostasis and nuclear pore complex function. Molecular biology of the cell, 25(1), 160-8.
  14. Fay MM, Clegg JM, Uchida KA, Powers MA, Ullman K (2014). Enhanced arginine methylation of programmed cell death 4 protein during nutrient deprivation promotes tumor cell viability. The Journal of biological chemistry, 289(25), 17541-52.
  15. Makise M, Mackay DR, Elgort S, Shankaran SS, Adam SA, Ullman K (2012). The Nup153-Nup50 protein interface and its role in nuclear import. The Journal of biological chemistry, 287(46), 38515-22.
  16. Chow KH, Factor RE, Ullman K (2012). The nuclear envelope environment and its cancer connections. Nature reviews. Cancer, 12(3), 196-209.
  17. Powers MA, Fay MM, Factor RE, Welm AL, Ullman K (2011). Protein arginine methyltransferase 5 accelerates tumor growth by arginine methylation of the tumor suppressor programmed cell death 4. Cancer research, 71(16), 5579-87.
  18. Mackay DR, Makise M, Ullman K (2010). Defects in nuclear pore assembly lead to activation of an Aurora B-mediated abscission checkpoint. The Journal of cell biology, 191(5), 923-31.

Review

  1. Turkmen AM, Saik NO, Ullman K (2023). The dynamic nuclear envelope: resilience in health and dysfunction in disease. Current opinion in cell biology, 85, 102230.

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