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Mark
Flory joined the Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Department as an
assistant professor of molecular biology and biochemistry in January 2005.
Flory,
a native of Roanoke, Virginia, completed his bachelor’s of science degree at
the University of Richmond majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry in
1994. He earned his Ph.D. at the Molecular and Cellular Biology Program at
the University of Washington, Seattle, in 2001. His dissertation was titled,
"Isolation and Characterization of Calmodulin-Binding Centrosome Components
Related to Sacharomyces cerevisiae Spc110p from the Fission Yeast
Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Humans." Flory completed his postdoctoral
research in proteomics and mass spectrometry in Ruedi Aebersold's group at
the Seattle Institute for Systems Biology in 2004.
Flory’s
research interests involve understanding the specific mechanisms that ensure
genomic integrity. These mechanisms are fundamental to the prevention of
chromosomal abnormalities that accompany carcinogenesis. A core set of
proteins, conserved in yeast and human cells, protects telomeric chromosome
ends by forming a physical cap structure, termed the "telosome," that
regulates access to chromosome ends. The low-abundance and biophysical
properties of telomere-associating factors have hampered their
identification and characterization, but he has successfully applied mass
spectrometry to the identification of telomeric proteins in the fission
yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
“I
hypothesize that the telosome serves as a repository for factors that
dynamically function in an equilibrium balancing telomeric protection and
DNA repair according to the needs of the cell under different conditions,”
Flory says.
While
conducting postdoctoral research in Seattle, Flory also taught “Introduction
to Biochemistry and Metabolism Parts I and II” at the University of
Washington Extensions College for two years prior to coming to Wesleyan.
“I
value highly the merits of a smaller-campus environment, but did not want to
sacrifice the quality of my research program,” he says. “Wesleyan provides a
truly unique combination of high-level research with an intimate teaching
environment ideally suited for effective training of undergraduate and
graduate students. During my recent national job search, I found the
Wesleyan life sciences environment is unique not only to Connecticut but
across the country.”
Flory
is the co-author of nine articles, one technical report and a chapter in a
book. He lives in Middletown with his partner Amy Sanchez, a chocolate lab
named Ace, and a cat named Denson. He enjoys listening to and playing
classical and jazz piano, kite boarding on water and snow and hiking. |
