Ryan Potts, Ph.D.

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Dr. Ryan Potts grew up in North Carolina and obtained his B.S. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2000. Subsequently he worked as a Research Assistant at UNC studying the intracellular signaling processes that regulate neuronal cell death. In 2003 he entered into the Cell Regulation Ph.D. program at UT Southwestern Medical Center under the mentorship of Dr. Hongtao Yu in the department of Pharmacology. He completed his dissertation in 2007 studying the molecular and biochemical processes that safeguard the genome from DNA damage-induced mutations. In 2008 he was awarded the Sara and Frank McKnight independent postdoctoral fellowship in the department of Biochemistry at UT Southwestern Medical Center. During this time his research focused on understanding the basic molecular, genetic, and cellular events that give rise to cancer. His lab biochemically defined a novel family of cancer cell-specific proteins, called MAGE proteins, that promote tumor growth. In 2011 he was appointed Assistant Professor and Endowed Scholar in Biomedical Research in the department of Physiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He was also awarded a Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Scholar in Cancer Research Award. His lab is now focused on elucidating the biochemical, cellular, and physiological function of MAGE proteins in tumorigenesis and in normal somatic and germ cells.

Undergraduate	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2000), Biology
Graduate School	University of Texas Southwestern Med Ctr Dallas (2007), Science

• cancer / tumorigenesis
• DNA damage response
• MAGE cancer-testis antigens
• protein trafficking
• ubiquitination / post-translational modification

Featured Publications

MAGE-RING complexes comprise a family of E3 ubiquitin ligases

Doyle, J.M., Gao, J., Wang, J., Yang, M. and Potts, P.R. 2010 September 2010 39 963-974

The SMC5/6 Complex Maintains Telomere Length in ALT Cancer Cells through Sumoylation of Telomere-Binding Proteins

Potts, P.R. and Yu, H. Nature Structure and Molecular Biology July 2007 14 581-590

Human SMC5/6 complex promotes sister chromatid homologous recombination by recruiting the SMC1/3 cohesin complex to double-strand breaks

Potts, P.R., Porteus, M.H., and Yu, H. EMBO Journal July 2006 25 3377-3388

Human MMS21/NSE2 is a SUMO ligase required for DNA repair

Potts, P.R. and Yu, H. Molecular and Cellular Biology August 2005 25 7021-7032

Critical function of endogenous XIAP in regulating caspase activation during sympathetic neuronal apoptosis

Potts, P.R., Singh, S., Knezek, M., Thompson, C.B., and Deshmukh, M. Journal of Cell Biology November 2003 163 789-799

Creating higher titer lentivirus using caffeine

Ellis, B., Potts, P.R., Porteus, M.H. Human Gene Therapy January 2011 22 93-100

The Yin and Yang of the MMS21-SMC5/6 SUMO ligase complex in homologous recombination

Potts, P.R. DNA Repair April 2009 8 499-506

Decreased apoptosome activity with neuronal differentiation sets the threshold for strict IAP regulation of apoptosis.

Wright KM, Linhoff MW, Potts PR, Deshmukh M J. Cell Biol. 2004 Oct 167 2 303-13

Stability and apoptotic activity of recombinant human cytochrome c.

Olteanu A, Patel CN, Dedmon MM, Kennedy S, Linhoff MW, Minder CM, Potts PR, Deshmukh M, Pielak GJ Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 2003 Dec 312 3 733-40

• CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research
  Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (2011)
• Endowed Scholar in Biomedical Research
  UT Southwestern Medical Center (2011)
• Sara and Frank McKnight Fellowship
  UT Southwestern Medical Center Dept Biochemistry (2008)

• American Association of Cancer Research
• American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
• Sigma Xi