Principal Investigator

Professor of Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
SUNY Upstate Medical University
750 E. Adams St.
Syracuse, NY. 13210
Phone: (315) 464-8714
FAX: (315) 464-8750
E-Mail: ambergd@upstate dot edu

 

• B.A., Whitman College, 1984
• Research Assistant, Immunex Corporation, 1985-1987.
• Ph.D., Dartmouth Medical School, Department of Biochemistry, Laboratory of Dr. Charles N. Cole, 1992. Thesis Title: Isolation and characterization of essential genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae required for the efficient nucleocytoplasmic trafficking of mRNA.
• Summer 1989 Cold Spring Harbor Yeast Genetics Course.
• January 1993-July 1996 Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Postdoctoral Fellow, The laboratory of David Botstein. Structure/Function Studies of the Yeast Actin-Cytoskeleton.

Positions Held

• Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 1996-2002
• Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 2002-2008
• Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 2008-Present

Leadership Positions

• Chair, Graduate Program Committee, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 2009-2011
• Research Integrity Officer, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 2011-2014
• Assistant Vice President of Reseach Integrity, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 2011-2013
• Research Conflict of Interest Officer, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 2013-2014
• Associate Vice Chair of Research Integrity, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 2013-2014
• Interim Vice President for Research, SUNY Upstate Medical University, July 2014-December 2014
• Vice President for Research, SUNY Upstate Medical University, December 2014-Present

Awards and Honors

• Graduated cum laude, 1983, Whitman College
• Phi Beta Kappa, 1983, Whitman College
• Ryan Fellow, 1991 and 1992, Dartmouth Medical School
• Outstanding Teacher Award 2004, College of Graduate Studies, SUNY Upstate Medical University
• President's Award for Excellence in Teaching 2004
• Jacobsen Scholar, 2009-Present, SUNY Upstate Medical University
• President's Award for Excellence in Leadership in Research, 2011, SUNY Upstate Medical University
• Chancellor's Award for Excellent in Scholarship and Creative Activities, 2012, State University of New York

Fellowships and Grant Support

• Life Sciences Research Foundation: June 1993-May 1996.
• NIH 5 Year RO1, "The Role of Aip3p in Regulating Actin Organization", May 1998-May 1996.
• AHA 3 Year GIA, "The Role of Old Yellow Enzyme in Actin Cytoskeleton Assembly", July 1999-June 2002.
• NIH RO1 (renewal of above), "Regulation of Actin Dynamics", June 2003-June 2007
• NIH RO1, "Toward a Complete Genetic Description of the Yeast Actin Cytoskeleton," February 2007-February 2011.
• NIH RO1 (funded through ARRA), "Regulation of Actin Dynamics," September 30, 2009-August 31, 2011
• Hendricks Bridge Grant, June 15, 2012-June 14, 2013
• Carol M Baldwin Breast Cancer Fund, "Identification of New Combinational Drug Targets for Breast Cancer," December 2012-November 2014

Publications

• Prickett, K.S., Amberg, D.C., Hopp, T.P., (1989) A calcium dependent antibody for identification and purification of recombinant proteins, Biotechniques, 7, 580-589.
• Amberg, D.C., Goldstein, A.L., Cole, C.N., (1992) Isolation and characterization of RAT1: an essential gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae required for the efficient nucleocytoplasmic trafficking of mRNA, Genes Devel., 6, 1173-1189.
• Amberg, D.C., Fleischmann, M., Stagljar, I., Cole, C.N., Aebi, M., (1993) Nuclear PRP20 Protein is Required for mRNA Export, EMBO J., 12, 233-241.
• Bogerd, A.M., Hoffman, J.A., Amberg, D.C., Fink, G., Davis, L.I., (1994) nup1 mutants exhibit pleitropic defects in nuclear pore complex function, J. Cell Biol., 127, 319-332.
• Amberg, D.C., Basart, E., Botstein, D., (1995) Defining Protein Interactions with Yeast Actin in vivo, Nature Structural Biology, 2, 28-35.
• Li, O., Heath, C.V., Amberg, D.C., Dockendorff, T.C., Copeland, C.S., Snyder, M., Cole, C.N., (1995), Mutation or deletion of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae RAT3/NUP133 gene causes temperature-dependent nuclear accumulation of poly(A)+ RNA and constitutive clustering of nuclear pore complexes, Mol. Biol. Cell, 6, 401-417.
• Amberg, D.C., Botstein, D., Beasley, E.M., (1995) Precise gene disruption in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by double fusion polymerase chain reaction, Yeast, 11, 1275-1280.
• Heath, C.V., Copeland, C.S., Amberg, D.C., Del Priore, V., Snyder, M., Cole, C.N. (1995) Nuclear pore complex clustering and nuclear accumulation of poly(A)+ RNA associated with mutation of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae RAT2/NUP120 gene, J. Cell Biol., 131, 1677-97.
• Saavedra, C., Tung, K.-S., Amberg, D.C., Hopper, A.K. and Cole, C.N., Regulation of mRNA Export in Response to Stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Genes and Devel., 10, 1608-20.
• Amberg, D.C., Zahner, J.E., Mulholland, Pringle, J.R. and Botstein, D., (1997) Aip3p/Bud6p, a yeast actin-interacting protein that is involved in morphogenesis and the selection of bipolar budding sites, Mol. Biol. Cell, 8, 729-753.
• Amberg, D.C., (1998) Three-dimensional imaging of the yeast actin-cytoskeleton through the budding cell-cycle, Molec. Biol. Cell, 8, 3259-62.
• Rodal, A., Tetreault, J. Lappalainin, P., Drubin, D.G., and Amberg, D.C., (1999) Aip1p Interacts with Cofilin to diassemble Actin Filaments, J. Cell Biol., 145, 1251-64.
• Jin, H. and Amberg D.C., (2000) The Secretory Pathway Mediates Localization of the Cell Polarity Regulator Aip3p/Bud6p, Mol. Biol. Cell, 11, 647-661.
• Jin, H. and Amberg, D.C., (2001) Fission yeast Aip3p (spAip3p) is required for an alternative actin-directed polarity program, Mol. Biol. Cell, 12, 1275-1291.
• Evangelista M., Pruyne D., Amberg D.C., Boone C., and Bretscher A., (2002) Formins direct Arp2/3-independent actin filament assembly to polarize cell growth in yeast, Nat Cell Biol, 4(3):260-9.
• Yuzyuk, T., Foehr, M., and Amberg, D.C., (2002) The MEK kinase Ssk2p promotes actin cytoskeleton recovery after osmotic stress, Mol. Biol. Cell, 13, 2869-2880.
• Yuzyuk, T., Foehr, M., and Amberg, D.C. (2003) Actin recovery and bud emergence in osmotically stressed cells requires the conserved actin interacting mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase Ssk2p/MTK1 and the scaffold protein Spa2p. Mol. Biol. Cell 14(7):3013-26.
• Bettinger BT, Gilbert DM, and Amberg DC. (2004) Actin up in the nucleus. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 5(5):410-5.
• Haarer, BK and Amberg DC. (2004) Old Yellow Enzyme Protects the Actin Cytoskeleton form Oxidative Stress., Molec. Biol. Cell, 15, 4522-4531.
• Clark MG, Temply J, Haarer BK, Viggiano SC, Sept D and Amberg DC. (2006) A genetic dissection of Aip1p's interactions leads to a model for Aip1p-cofilin cooperative activities. Molec. Biol. Cell, 17, 1971-1984.
• Daniel JA, Yoo J, Bettinger BT, Amberg DC and Burke DJ. (2006) Eliminating gene conversion improves high-throughput genetics in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics, 172, 709-711.
• Haarer BK, Helfant AH and Amberg DC. (2007) Stable pre-anaphase spindle positioning requires Bud6p/Aip3p and an apparent interaction between the spindle pole bodies and the neck. Euk. Cell, May; 6(5): 797-807. Epub 2007 Apr 6.
• Farah ME and Amberg DC. (2007) Conserved actin cysteine residues are oxidative stress sensors that can regulate cell death in yeast. Molec. Biol. Cell, April 2007; 18 (4): 1359-1365.
• Haarer BK,Viggiano SC, Hibbs MA, Troyanskaya OG and Amberg DC. (2007) Modeling complex genetic interactions in a simple eukaryotic genome: Actin displays a rich spectrum of complex haploinsufficiencies. Genes and Devel., 21, 149-159. This article was featured on the cover and in a perspective published in the same issue.
• Bettinger BT, Clark MG and Amberg DC. (2007) Requirement for the polarisome and formin function in Ssk2p-mediated actin recovery form osmotic stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics, Apr; 175(4): 1637-48. Epub 2007 Jan 21.
• Bettinger BT and Amberg DC. (2007) The MEK kinases MEKK4/Ssk2p facilitate complexity in the stress signaling responses of diverse systems. J. Cell. Biochem., 2007 May 1; 101(1): 34-43
• Clark MG and Amberg DC. (2007) Biochemical and genetic analyses provide insight into the structural and mechanistic properties of actin filament disassembly by the Aip1p-cofilin complex in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics, 2007 May 4; [Epub ahead of print].
• Scarcelli JJ, Viggiano S, Hodge CA, Heath CV, Amberg DC, and Cole CN. Synthetic genetic array analysis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae provides evidence for an interaction between RAT8/DBP5 and genes encoding P-body components. (2008) Genetics, 179: 1945-1955
• Viggiano S, Haarer B, and Amberg DC. Correction/Completion of the yeast actin, alanine scan alleles. (2010) Genetics, 185: 391-394
• Farah, M.E., Sirotkin, V., Haarer, B., Kakhniashvili, D., and Amberg, D.C. Diverse Protective Roles of the Actin Cytoskeleton During Oxidative Stress. (2011) Cytoskeleton, 68: 340-354
• Haarer, B., Aggeli, D., Viggiano, S., Burke, D.J., and Amberg, D.C. Novel Interactions between Actin and the Proteasome Revealed by Complex Haploinsufficiency. (2011) PLOS Genetics, 7: e1002288
• Haarer, B., Mi-Mi, L., Cho, J., Cortese, M., Viggiano, S., Burke, D., and Amberg, D.C. Actin Dosage Lethality Screening in Yeast Mediated by Selective Ploidy Abalation Reveals Links to Urmylation/Wobble Codon Recognition and Chromosome Stability. (2013) G3: Genes/Genomes/Genetics, 3:553-561
• DiPrima S, Haarer B, Viggiano S, Pons, C, Myers CL, and Amberg DC (2014) Linking genetics to structural biology: complex heterozygosity screening with actin alanine scan alleles identifies functionally related surfaces on yeast actin. (2014) G3: Genes/Genomes/Genetics, 4:1491-501
• Aggeli D, Kish-Trier E, Haarer B., Cingolani G, Wilkins S, and Amberg D.C. (2014) Coordination of the Filament Stabilizing Versus Destabilizing Activities of Cofilin Through its Secondary Binding Site on Actin. (2014) Cytoskeleton, 71:361-79
• Silva, RC., Dautel, M., Di Genova, BM., Amberg, DC., Castilho, BA., and Sattlegger, E. (2015) The Gcn2 Regulator Yih1 Interacts with the Cyclin Dependent Kinase Cdc28 and Promotes Cell Cycle Progression through G2/M in Budding Yeast. PLOS One, July 15 2015

Books

• Amberg DC, Burke D and Strathern J. (2005) Methods in Yeast Genetics. Cold Spring Harbor Press.

Book Chapters

• Amberg, D.C. and Botstein, D., (1996) Obtaining structural information about multi-protein complexes with the two-hybrid system. In "The Two-Hybrid System" (P.L. Bartel and S. Fields, eds.), pgs. 99-108, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Botstein, D., Amberg, D., Mulholland, J., Huffaker, T., Adams, A., Drubin, D., and Stearns, T., (1997) The Yeast Cytoskeleton. In "The Molecular and Cellular Biology of the Yeast Saccharomyces: Cell Cycle and Cell Biology" (J.R. Pringle, J.R. Broach, and E.W. Jones, eds.), pgs. 1-90, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor.
• Cole, C.N., Heath, C.V., Hodge, C.A., Hammell, C.M., and Amberg, D.C. (2002) Analysis of RNA export, Methods in Enzymology, 351:568-87.
• Amberg, D, Leadsham, JE, Kotiadis, V, and Gourlay, CW. Cellular ageing and the -actin cytoskeleton, Sub-cellular Biochemistry, 57:331-352 (2012)
• Amberg, D.C. and Burke, D.J. Classical Genetics with Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Cold Spring Harb. Protoc. 2016