Competition # F025-01
Richard E. Sobel, Ph.D.
220-2222 Prince Edward St.
Vancouver, B.C., V5T 4M6
604-734-8170 (home)
604-877-6018 (lab) -6011 (fax)
Email: sobel@interchange.ubc.ca
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TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
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Mentor and Supervisor for Fereshte Lalji-Samji, a University of British Columbia Co-Op student,
from June-Dec, 2004
Instructor for Biology 1215, General Biology II, Langara College, Winter, 2003
Invited Lectures for Medical Genetics 502 and MEDG 421, UBC, Winter, 2000
Supervisor for two Zoology 498 undergraduate research projects, UBC, Fall, 1997-98
Supervisor of an Zoology 498 undergraduate research project, UBC, Summer, 1997
Sessional Instructor for Introduction to Genetic Analysis, Zoology 335, Department of Zoology,
UBC, Summer, 1997
Teaching Associate in the Department of Biology, SU, Fall 1992-95 for the following courses:
 Introductory Biology for Non Majors- 1 year
 Introductory Biology for Majors- 2 years
 Genetics- 2 years
 Microbiology- 2 years
 Cell Biology- 2 years
Conceived, developed and taught a special one credit section for Biology 123 entitled “Everyday
Cell and Molecular Biology”, SU, Spring, 1994
TA for Cell Biology Laboratory Biology, SU, Spring 1993, 1994. I designed and taught a 4 week
immunofluorescence microscopy laboratory module which also utilized Interactive Group Methods
Guest Lecturer for Introductory Genetics, SU, Spring 1993
EDUCATION:
Postdoctoral Fellowships:
The Prostate Center at Vancover General Hospital, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1999-June 2002.
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1995-1998
Ph.D.
Department of Biology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA, 1997
Dissertation: Mapping Sites of Deposition-Related Acetylation and Deacetylation in Newly
Synthesized H3 and H4 During Chromatin Assembly and Maturation In Vitro and In Vivo.
B.Sc.
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY, 1973
AWARDS:
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November 2003- Outstanding Poster in Basic Sciences Category at the annual conference of the
B.C. Cancer Agency.
Summer 1993, 94- Selected as a Teaching Fellow to train new teaching assistants in a two week,
campus-wide, orientation program designed to introduce incoming graduate students to Syracuse
University and to give them a monitored experience of college level teaching.
January 1994 - Selected as one of two Teaching Fellows for a scaled down version of the summer
orientation program during the winter break .
Spring 1991- Outstanding Teaching Assistant award
Competition # F025-01
Curriculum vitae for Dr. Richard E. Sobel
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE: 1989-2002
Research Associate
BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, June 2002- present.
Prostate Cancer Lab: Investigating histone modifications at the PSA/KLK3 locus to determine the role of
epigenetics in PSA dysregulation in androgen-independent prostate cancer.
Postdoctoral Fellow:
Prostate Center at Vancover General Hospital, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1999-2002.
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1995-1998.
Prostate Cancer Lab: Analyzed gene expression patterns during prostate tumour progression in a LNCaP mouse
system using cDNA microarrays. Responsibilities also include overseeing the training of several
Co-op students and clinical investigators.
Biochemistry Lab: Devised a strategy for purifying baculovirus produced recombinant Ste12p and characterized
post-translational modifications and protein-protein interactions of Ste12p, a transcription factor
common to several yeast MAP Kinase signal transduction pathways.
Molecular Genetics Lab: Analyzed an essential histone variant and a histone deacetylase involved in chromatin
structure and function. Isolated several interacting proteins using the yeast 2-hybrid technique.
Showed that a Drosophila protein, IP259, was also produced in nematodes, yeast and humans.
Directed 3 undergraduate independent research projects.
Graduate Studies: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 1989-1995
Molecular Biology Laboratory: Showed that specific sites of core histone acetylation during histone deposition
into chromatin were conserved in widely divergent organisms. Utilized site-directed mutagenesis
to analyze phenotypic consequenses of mutating specific acetylation sites.
PUBLICATIONS:
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Sobel, R.E. and Sadar, M.D., Cell Lines Used for Prostate Cancer Research: A compendium of old
and new lines- Part I, (in press, J. of Urology, July 2004).
Sobel, R.E. and Sadar, M.D., Cell Lines Used for Prostate Cancer Research: A compendium of old
and new lines- Part II, (in press, J. of Urology, July 2004).
Ettinger, S.L., Sobel, R.E., Whitmore, T.G., Akbari, M., Bradley, D.R., Gleave, M.E. and Nelson,
C.C., Dysregulation of Sterol-Response-Element Binding Proteins and Downstream Effectors in
Prostate Cancer During Progression to Androgen Independence, Cancer Research 64: 2212-2221
(2004)
Sobel, R.E., Dubitsky, A. and Brickman, Y., Northern Hybrid Analysis: Comparing Different
Membranes and Fixation Methods, Genetic Engineering News 22(2): Jan 15 (2002).
Mottus, R., Sobel, R.E. and Grigliatti, T. Mutational Analysis of a Histone Deacetylase in
Drosophila melanogaster: Missense Mutations Suppress Gene Silencing associated with Position
Effect Variegation, Genetics 154:657-68 (2000)
Mottus, R.,Whitehead, I., O’Grady, M., Sobel, R. E., Burr, R., Spiegelman, G., and Grigliatti, T.
Unique Gene Organization: Alternate Splicing In Drosophila Produces Two Structurally Unrelated
Proteins, Gene 198: 229-236 (1997)
Braunstein, M., Sobel, R. E., Allis, C. D., Turner, B. M., and Broach, J. R. Transcriptional
Silencing in Yeast Requires a Heterochromatin Histone Acetylation Pattern, Molecular and
Cellular Biol., 16: 4349-4356, (1996)
Kuo, M.-H., Brownell, J. E., Sobel, R. E., Ranalli, T. A., Cook, R. G., Edmondson, D. G., Roth, S.
Y., and Allis, C.D. Transcription-Linked Acetylation by Gcn5p of Histones H3 and H4 at Specific
Lysines, Nature 383: 269-272, (1996)
Boggs, B. A., Connors, B. J., Sobel, R. E., Chinault, A. C., and Allis, C. D. Reduced Levels of H3
Acetylation on the Inactive X Chromosome in Human Females, Chromosoma, 105: 303-309,
(1996)
Sobel, R.E., Cook, R. G., Perry, C.A., Annunziato, A.T. and Allis, C.D. Conservation of
Deposition-Related Acetylation Sites In Newly Synthesized Histones H3 and H4,
Competition # F025-01
Curriculum vitae for Dr. Richard E. Sobel
Proc.Nat.Acad.Sci.,USA 92:1237-1241, (1995)
Sobel, R.E., Cook, R. G. and Allis, C.D. Non-Random Acetylation of Histone H4 by a
Cytoplasmic Histone Acetyltransferase as Determined by Novel Methodology, J. Biol. Chem.
269:18576-18582, (1994)
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ABSTRACTS AND POSTERS:
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Sobel, R.E. and Sadar, M.D. The Prostate Cell Line Database: An open access, on-line database
for human prostate cell lines and xenografts, Poster for the 14th Annual Meeting of the SBUR,
December, 2004
Lalji-Samji, F, Sobel, R.E., Sadar, M.D. Use of Chromatin Immunoprecipitation to Map Histone
Modifications at the PSA locus in Prostate Cancer Cells, Poster for the Annual Conference of the
B.C. Cancer Agency, November, 2004
Warner, SM, Mendelev, N, Mawji, NR, Sobel, R.E., and Sadar MD. Identification and
Characterization of Proteins Interacting with the Ligand-Bound Androgen Receptor in Prostate
Cancer Cells, Poster for the Annual Conference of the B.C. Cancer Agency, November, 2004
Sobel, R.E., Quayle, S. and Sadar, M.D. Reverse ChIP Analysis Reveals 4 Previously Unreported
Alu Elements in the Human Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) Locus, Poster for the First Northern
Lights Summer Conference at the 47th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Federation of
Biological Societies, June 2004
Sobel, R.E. and Sadar, M.D., A Novel Strategy to Analyze Changes in Chromatin Structure at the
PSA Locus as Prostate Cancer Cells Progress to Androgen Independence, Poster for the Annual
Conference of the B.C. Cancer Agency, November, 2003.
Romanuik,T., Mawji, NR., Snoek, R., Sobel, R.E., Schutze-Redelmeier, M.P., Sadar, M.D. The
Development of a Potential New Therapy for Androgen-Independent Prostate Cancer, Poster for
the Annual Conference of the B.C. Cancer Agency, November, 2002.
Sobel, R.E., Ettinger, S., Ringstrom, E., Hall, D., Truong, C., Nelson, C.C., Functional Analysis of
Genes Implicated In Prostate Cancer Progression Using an Ecdysone-Inducible Gene Expression
System. Poster for the Annual Meeting for the Canadian Urological Association, June, 2000.
Sobel, R.E., Cook, R. G., Annunziato, A.T., Allis, C.D. 1994., Deposition-Related Acetylation
Sites In Histone H4 Are Highly Conserved Between Widely Divergent Species, in J. Cell.
Biochem. Supp 18C, vol. 104.
PRESENTATIONS:
1. Analyzing changes in chromatin structure as prostate cancer cells progress to androgen-independence, Annual
Conference of the B.C. Cancer Agency, November, 2003.
2. What can the chromatin structure of the PSA locus tell us about androgen independence? Annual B.C. Cancer
Agency Prostate Cancer Research conference, March, 2003.