People

Current Lab Members

Xuetong "Snow" Shen, Ph.D. Principal Investigator	I grew up in Inner Mongolia, China. After receiving my B.S. degree in Biophysics from Peking University in 1991, I spent the next five years in Dr. Martin A. Gorovsky's lab at the University of Rochester, studying the functions of histones in Tetrahymena, and received my Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology in 1996. I continued to focus on chromatin research and enjoyed a six-year postdoctoral training with Dr. Carl Wu at NIH, where I characterized a new class of chromatin remodeling complexes called the INO80 class. I have been an Associate Professor at MD Anderson since the Fall of 2002. My lab is interested in the role of chromatin in nuclear functions. For people who are curious about “Snow”, my Chinese name is 申雪桐，and the middle character “雪” means “Snow”.

Yunhe Bao, Ph.D. Instructor	I received my Ph.D. in 2005 in Dr. Karolin Luger's Lab at Colorado State University. I am currently working as an Instructor in Dr. Xuetong Shen's lab. In eukaryotic cells, DNA is packaged into a protein-DNA assembly called chromatin, which is the natural substrate for DNA repair. However, little is known about how chromatin changes in response to DNA damage. I am using the yeast model system, with its powerful genetic and biochemical tools, to study chromatin responses to DNA damage. Currently, my project is focused on the effects of various chromatin factors on ATM/ATR regulation. Bao Publications

Mingming Chen Postdoctoral Fellow	I graduated from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center with a Ph.D. in 2010. I am currently a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Xuetong Shen’s lab. My project is focused on the functional analysis of nuclear actin and actin-related proteins, subunits of chromatin remodeling complexes, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. I am also interested in exploring novel mechanisms of DNA damage response and repair. Chen Publications

Laura Denton Administrative Assistant	I grew up in Houston, Texas, and during high school began working as an administrative assistant through a vocational office education program. Upon graduation I continued on an administrative journey, and I have followed that path for the past 29 years. I am honored to be working for this Institution, providing administrative services to the brilliant doctors and lab members I have been assigned to assist.

Prabodh Kapoor Postdoctoral Fellow	I was born and raised in Lucknow, India. I received my M.Sc. in Biochemistry from Lucknow University, and my Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow. At CDRI, I used biochemical approaches to explore the cytosolic form of a major cytoskeleton protein, actin. Now while working as a postdoc in Dr. Shen’s lab, I am trying to understand the function of nuclear actin and actin-related proteins (Arps). I am using yeast chromatin-modifying complexes as a well-defined model system to address the function of nuclear actin and Arps. Kapoor Publications

Jing Xiao Research Assistant II	I received my Bachelor's degree in Chinese Medicine Pharmacy at Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Sichuan P.R. China, and then worked as a pharmacist in TianJin for three years. In 2005, I received my Master's degree in Computer Information Systems at Colorado State University. I am currently working as a Research Assistant in Snow Shen's lab.