User:Karmella Haynes

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Contact Info

Karmella Haynes

Dr. Karmella A. Haynes, Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School
Department of Systems Biology
200 Longwood Ave. WAB 536
Boston, MA 02115

phone: 617-432-6406
fax: 617-432-5012

karmella_haynes at hms dot harvard dot edu

Education

• 2006, Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics, Washington University in St. Louis
• 1999, B.S. in Bilogy, Florida A&M University

Research interests

Synthetic Biology
Currently as a postdoc in the lab of Pam Silver at Harvard Medical School, I am exploring the use of eukaryotic proteins as modular parts that can be used for rationally designed protein devices in living cells. The field of synthetic biology aims to engineer tiny machines fashioned from characterized DNA and protein components to carry out useful functions, like synthesizing useful metabolites, attacking tumors, and detecting compounds in the environment. Nature provides an abundant source of functional proteins for designing new systems. To date, chromatin proteins remain an untapped resource. Particular chromatin proteins called "effectors" have the remarkable ability to discriminate very specific post-translational modifications of single proteins known as histones. Can a synthetic protein device be engineered to read histone modifications? Can we use this type of device as a new tool to monitor changes in histone modifications in single living cells? Accomplishing these goals will allow scientists to probe histone modification at unprecedented resolution, thus furthering our understanding of the dynamics of histone modifications implicated in disease states and cell differentiation.

Publications

1. Haynes KA, Broderick ML, Brown AD, Butner TL, Dickson JO, Harden WL, Heard LH, Jessen EL, Malloy KJ, Ogden BJ, Rosemond S, Simpson S, Zwack E, Campbell AM, Eckdahl TT, Heyer LJ, and Poet JL. Engineering bacteria to solve the Burnt Pancake Problem. J Biol Eng. 2008 May 20;2:8. DOI:10.1186/1754-1611-2-8 |
2. Riddle NC, Leung W, Haynes KA, Granok H, Wuller J, and Elgin SC. An investigation of heterochromatin domains on the fourth chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics. 2008 Mar;178(3):1177-91. DOI:10.1534/genetics.107.081828 |
3. Haynes KA, Gracheva E, and Elgin SC. A Distinct type of heterochromatin within Drosophila melanogaster chromosome 4. Genetics. 2007 Mar;175(3):1539-42. DOI:10.1534/genetics.106.066407 |
4. Haynes KA, Caudy AA, Collins L, and Elgin SC. Element 1360 and RNAi components contribute to HP1-dependent silencing of a pericentric reporter. Curr Biol. 2006 Nov 21;16(22):2222-7. DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2006.09.035 |
5. Haynes KA, Leibovitch BA, Rangwala SH, Craig C, and Elgin SC. Analyzing heterochromatin formation using chromosome 4 of Drosophila melanogaster. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 2004;69:267-72. DOI:10.1101/sqb.2004.69.267 |

Science Art Gallery

In addition to science researh, I paint and draw. Below are my paintings and drawing that have a scientific theme. You can view my other work at http://www.haynesart.com

Tessellation of Drosophila Heads, 2006.