Yuh Min Chook, Ph.D.

Dr. Chook received an AB degree in Chemistry and Biology (major at Haverford College) from Bryn Mawr College in 1988. She received a PhD in Biophysics in 1994 from Harvard University, where she studied the structures and mechanism of chorismate mutase with William Lipscomb. Her postdoctoral work was with Emil Pai and Tony Pawson in Toronto studying signal transduction in the Ras pathway, and with Günter Blobel at the Rockefeller University studying the mechanisms of nuclear import.

In December of 2001, Dr Chook joined the Department of Pharmacology at UT Southwestern as an Assistant Professor and Eugene McDermott Scholar in Biomedical Research. The Chook laboratory aims to understand mechanisms of nucleocytoplasmic transport by Karyopherinβs (Kapβs), classify nuclear traffic, and discover how Kapβs organize and regulate cellular functions. They seek to discover these roles of Kapβs through a combination of structural, biochemical, biophysical, bioinformatics and cell biological investigations focused on Kapβ-substrate interactions.

 

Graduate School	Bryn Mawr College (), Biology
Graduate School	Bryn Mawr College (), Chemistry
Graduate School	Harvard University (1993)

• Biochemistry
• Bioinformatics
• Biophysics
• Cell Biology
• Protein transport, nucleocytoplasmic transport, targeting signals
• Structural Biology

Featured Publications

Nuclear export inhibition through covalent conjugation and hydrolysis of Leptomycin B by CRM1.

Sun Q, Carrasco YP, Hu Y, Guo X, Mirzaei H, Macmillan J, Chook YM Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2013 Jan

Selective inhibitors of nuclear export show that CRM1/XPO1 is a target in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Lapalombella R, Sun Q, Williams K, Tangeman L, Jha S, Zhong Y, Goettl V, Mahoney E, Berglund C, Gupta S, Farmer A, Mani R, Johnson AJ, Lucas D, Mo X, Daelemans D, Sandanayaka V, Shechter S, McCauley D, Shacham S, Kauffman M, Chook YM, Byrd JC Blood 2012 Nov 120 23 4621-34

NESdb: a database of NES-containing CRM1 cargoes.

Xu D, Grishin NV, Chook YM Mol. Biol. Cell 2012 Sep 23 18 3673-6

Sequence and structural analyses of nuclear export signals in the NESdb database.

Xu D, Farmer A, Collett G, Grishin NV, Chook YM Mol. Biol. Cell 2012 Sep 23 18 3677-93

Structural and energetic basis of ALS-causing mutations in the atypical proline-tyrosine nuclear localization signal of the Fused in Sarcoma protein (FUS).

Zhang ZC, Chook YM Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2012 Jul 109 30 12017-21

Antileukemic activity of nuclear export inhibitors that spare normal hematopoietic cells.

Etchin J, Sun Q, Kentsis A, Farmer A, Zhang ZC, Sanda T, Mansour MR, Barcelo C, McCauley D, Kauffman M, Shacham S, Christie AL, Kung AL, Rodig SJ, Chook YM, Look AT Leukemia 2012 Jul

Evolutionary development of redundant nuclear localization signals in the mRNA export factor NXF1.

Zhang ZC, Satterly N, Fontoura BM, Chook YM Mol. Biol. Cell 2011 Dec 22 23 4657-68

Recognition of nuclear targeting signals by Karyopherin-ß proteins.

Xu D, Farmer A, Chook YM Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 2010 Dec 20 6 782-90

Nuclear import by karyopherin-ßs: Recognition and inhibition.

Chook YM, Süel KE Biochim. Biophys. Acta 2010 Oct 1593-606

Kap104p imports the PY-NLS-containing transcription factor Tfg2p into the nucleus.

Süel KE, Chook YM J. Biol. Chem. 2009 Jun 284 23 15416-24

Featured Books

Chorismate Mutase, essentially a template enzyme. Chapter 17, 235-244.. In Biological NMR Spectroscopy. John L. Markley, Stanley Opella and Richard Ernst (editors).

Lipscomb, W.N., Chook, Y.M. and Ke, H. (1997). Oxford University Press.

Structural Analysis of Karyopherin-mediated nucleocytoplasmic transport.. In Nuclear Transport, edited by Ralph Kehlenbach.

Zhang, Z. C. and Chook, Y. M. (2009). Landes Bioscience.

• Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Scholar Award
  (2010)
• Eugene McDermott Scholar in Biomedical Research
  U.T. Southwestern Endowed Scholar Award (2001)
• Life Sciences Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
  Rockefeller University (1996)
• Human Frontiers in Science Program Postdoctoral Fellowship
  University of Toronto/Mount Sinai Hospital (1994)
• Certificate of Distinction in Teaching
  Harvard-Danforth Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University (1990)