UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry : UCLA Portal

Website:

Guillaume Chanfreau's Home Page.

Work Email Address:

guillom@chem.ucla.edu

Laboratory Address:

Young Hall 4034,4044

Work Address:

Young Hall 4054A

Lab Number:

310-825-8412

Work Phone Number:

(310) 825-4399

Associate Professor
Biochemistry

Member
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (BMB) Graduate Program, JCCC Gene Regulation Program Area

A Short Biography:

Professor Chanfreau obtained his BS in Biology from Université Lyon 1 and the Ecole Normale Supérieure Lyon in 1989. He obtained the Agrégation in Natural Sciences in 1990 and a Masters in Microbiology from Université Paris 7 in 1992. He obtained his Ph.D. in Microbiology from Université Paris 6 in 1995 and after a postdoctoral training at UCSF from 1995 to 1997, he worked as a Chargé de Recherches CNRS at the Institut Pasteur, in Paris from 1997 to 1999. He obtained his Habilitation from Université Paris XI in 1999. He was appointed Assistant Professor at UCLA in 1999 and promoted to Associate Professor in 2006.

Professor Chanfreau accepts graduate students through the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) Graduate Program and the UCLA ACCESS Ph.D. Program.

Awards and Honors:

American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award ; UCLA Seaborg Award ; UCLA Faculty Career Development Award ; Research Corporation Research Innovation Award ; Bronze Medal of National Defense ; EMBO Long Term Postdoctoral Fellowship (1995, declined)

Research Interest:

The Chanfreau laboratory is interested in gene expression regulation in eukaryotic cells, with a particular emphasis on post-transcriptional steps. Within this large field, we are focusing on understanding how cells degrade RNAs that arise from malfunctions in gene expression pathways ("RNA surveillance"). In particular, we are analyzing the functions of the double-stranded RNA endonuclease RNase III and of the nonsense-mediated decay pathway in RNA surveillance, and how these enzymes regulate gene expression. In addition, we study how eukaryotic cells respond to perturbations in their intracellular metal concentrations and how they regulate expression of genes involved in transition metal uptake and mobilization.

Detailed 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:

Sayani Shakir, Janis Michael, Lee Chrissie Young, Toesca Isabelle, Chanfreau Guillaume F Widespread impact of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay on the yeast intronome. Molecular cell, 2008; 31(3): 360-70.

Merchant Sabeeha S, et al. The Chlamydomonas genome reveals the evolution of key animal and plant functions. Science, 2007; 318(5848): 245-50.

Oberstrass Florian C, Lee Albert, Stefl Richard, Janis Michael, Chanfreau Guillaume, Allain Frederic HT Shape-specific recognition in the structure of the Vts1p SAM domain with RNA. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol., 2006; 13(2): 160-7.

Egecioglu Defne E, Henras Anthony K, Chanfreau Guillaume F Contributions of Trf4p- and Trf5p-dependent polyadenylation to the processing and degradative functions of the yeast nuclear exosome. RNA, 2006; 12(1): 26-32.

Chanfreau Guillaume F CUTting genetic noise by polyadenylation-induced RNA degradation. Trends Cell Biol., 2005; 15(12): 635-7.

Henras Anthony K, Sam Mui, Hiley Shawna L, Wu Haihong, Hughes Timothy R, Feigon Juli, Chanfreau Guillaume F Biochemical and genomic analysis of substrate recognition by the double-stranded RNA binding domain of yeast RNase III. RNA, 2005; 11(8): 1225-37.

Zer Cindy, Chanfreau Guillaume Regulation and surveillance of normal and 3'-extended forms of the yeast aci-reductone dioxygenase mRNA by RNase III cleavage and exonucleolytic degradation. J. Biol. Chem., 2005; 280(32): 28997-9003.

Lee Albert, Henras Anthony K, Chanfreau Guillaume Multiple RNA surveillance pathways limit aberrant expression of iron uptake mRNAs and prevent iron toxicity in S. cerevisiae. Mol. Cell, 2005; 19(1): 39-51.

Yang Pok Kwan, Hoareau Coralie, Froment Carine, Monsarrat Bernard, Henry Yves, Chanfreau Guillaume Cotranscriptional recruitment of the pseudouridylsynthetase Cbf5p and of the RNA binding protein Naf1p during H/ACA snoRNP assembly. Mol. Cell. Biol., 2005; 25(8): 3295-304.

Sam Mui, Henras Anthony K, Chanfreau Guillaume A conserved major groove antideterminant for Saccharomyces cerevisiae RNase III recognition. Biochemistry, 2005; 44(11): 4181-7.

Sam Mui, Hwang Jung H, Chanfreau Guillaume, Abu-Omar Mahdi M Hydroxyl radical is the active species in photochemical DNA strand scission by bis(peroxo)vanadium(V) phenanthroline. Biochemistry, 2004; 43(26): 8447-55.

Henras Anthony K, Bertrand Edouard, Chanfreau Guillaume A cotranscriptional model for 3'-end processing of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae pre-ribosomal RNA precursor. RNA, 2004; 10(10): 1572-85.

Wu Haihong, Henras Anthony, Chanfreau Guillaume, Feigon Juli Structural basis for recognition of the AGNN tetraloop RNA fold by the double-stranded RNA-binding domain of Rnt1p RNase III. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 2004; 101(22): 8307-12.

Lee Chrissie Young, Lee Albert, Chanfreau Guillaume The roles of endonucleolytic cleavage and exonucleolytic digestion in the 5'-end processing of S. cerevisiae box C/D snoRNAs. RNA, 2003; 9(11): 1362-70.

Chanfreau Guillaume Conservation of RNase III processing pathways and specificity in hemiascomycetes. Eukaryotic Cell, 2003; 2(5): 901-9.

Danin-Kreiselman Michal, Lee Chrissie Young, Chanfreau Guillaume RNAse III-mediated degradation of unspliced pre-mRNAs and lariat introns. Mol. Cell, 2003; 11(5): 1279-89.

Yang Pok Kwan, Rotondo Giuseppe, Porras Tanya, Legrain Pierre, Chanfreau Guillaume The Shq1p.Naf1p complex is required for box H/ACA small nucleolar ribonucleoprotein particle biogenesis. The Journal of biological chemistry, 2002; 277(47): 45235-42.

Guillaume Chanfreau, Ph.D.