Rate My Professor Vivian Bellofatto

Vivian Bellofatto, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, part of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in 1984 and her B.S. with high honors in Biological Sciences from Douglass College of Rutgers University in 1977. Her career at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School includes appointment as Professor in 2004, Vice Chair for Research from 2005 to 2014, and Interim Chair of the department from 2014. Bellofatto's research centers on the regulation of gene expression in parasitic protozoa, particularly trypanosomes, unicellular eukaryotes that cause diseases in humans and animals. These parasites undergo differentiation during their life cycle to adapt to nutritional and immunological challenges. Her studies elucidate the unique mechanism of mRNA production in trypanosomes, involving the splicing of a short capped spliced leader RNA to protein-coding pre-mRNAs, essential for gene expression. She examines nucleic acid and protein signals governing spliced leader synthesis, regulation, mRNA maturation, and translation, including genetic analysis and DNA-protein binding studies that led to the discovery of PBP-1, a basal transcription factor critical for the pathway.

Bellofatto investigates RNA trans-splicing, which processes polycistronic pre-mRNAs into individual mature mRNAs, and post-transcriptional regulation potentially via differential spliced leader addition. She developed an in vitro system for RNA turnover to identify signals regulating mRNA stability across life cycle stages. Additional research encompasses RNA-binding proteins such as RBP42 and their roles in energy metabolism, as well as non-canonical functions of RNA polymerase II and chromatin landscapes in trypanosomes. She has been honored with the Award for Excellence in Research from the Foundation of UMDNJ in 2009, the New Investigators Award in Molecular Parasitology from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund from 1998 to 2001, and the Irma T. Hirschl Trust Award from 1990 to 1995. Key publications include "An essential domain of an early-diverged RNA polymerase II functions to accurately decode a primitive chromatin landscape" (Nucleic Acids Res., 2017), "The Trypanosoma cruzi RNA-binding protein RBP42 is expressed in the cytoplasm throughout the life cycle of the parasite" (Parasitol Res., 2018), "The essential polysome-associated RNA-binding protein RBP42 targets mRNAs involved in Trypanosoma brucei energy metabolism" (RNA, 2012), and "Poly(A)-specific ribonuclease (PARN-1) function in stage-specific mRNA turnover in Trypanosoma brucei" (Eukaryot Cell, 2011).