Christopher P. Hill

Professor
Department of Biochemistry
Huntsman Cancer Institute
United States of America

Professor Biochemistry
Biography

Christopher Hill, D.Phil., is a distinguished professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He serves as department co-chair jointly with Wes Sundquist, holds the H.A. and Edna Benning Medical Society Chair, and is a member of the Nuclear Control of Cell Growth and Differentiation Program.   The Hill Lab uses structural and biochemical approaches to study how proteins function. This approach is applied to numerous targets that are relevant to cancer mechanisms. Studies on proteasome and protein quality control seek to understand mechanisms in a validated cancer therapeutic target. Studies of HIV-host interactions and the ESCRT pathway have led into mechanistic studies on how cells divide, and may inform new approaches to prevent the uncontrolled proliferation characteristic of cancers. Studies on nucleosome remodeling and reorganizing complexes advance understanding of mechanisms of gene expression, which may offer insights to the genetic defects that underlie progression toward cancer.   Hill received his BA and D.Phil. from the University of York, England. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California at Los Angles. Hill presents and publishes widely and has received numerous research fellowships and grants.

Research Intrest

Structural Biology Proteasome Activation and Regulation Protein Quality Control HIV Structure and Host Interactions ESCRT Pathway Nucleosome Remodeling and Reorganization

List of Publications
Zhai Q, Landesman MB, Robinson H, Sundquist WI, Hill CP (2011). Structure of the Bro1 domain protein BROX and functional analyses of the ALIX Bro1 domain in HIV-1 budding. PLoS One, 6(12), e27466.
Hill CP, Babst M (2012). Structure and function of the membrane deformation AAA ATPase Vps4. Biochim Biophys Acta, 1823(1), 172-81.
Stadtmueller BM, Kish-Trier E, Ferrell K, Petersen CN, Robinson H, Myszka DG, Eckert DM, Formosa T, Hill CP (2012). Structure of a proteasome Pba1-Pba2 complex: implications for proteasome assembly, activation, and biological function. J Biol Chem, 287(44), 37371-82.
Kemble DJ, Whitby FG, Robinson H, McCullough LL, Formosa T, Hill CP (2013). Structure of the Spt16 middle domain reveals functional features of the histone chaperone FACT. J Biol Chem, 288(15), 10188-94.
Schubert HL, Wittmeyer J, Kasten MM, Hinata K, Rawling DC, Heroux A, Cairns BR, Hill CP (2013). Structure of an actin-related subcomplex of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeler. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 110(9), 3345-50.
Monroe N, Han H, Gonciarz MD, Eckert DM, Karren MA, Whitby FG, Sundquist WI, Hill CP (2014). The oligomeric state of the active Vps4 AAA ATPase. J Mol Biol, 426(3), 510-25.
Han H, Monroe N, Votteler J, Shakya B, Sundquist WI, Hill CP (2015). Binding of Substrates to the Central Pore of the Vps4 ATPase Is Autoinhibited by the Microtubule Interacting and Trafficking (MIT) Domain and Activated by MIT Interacting Motifs (MIMs). J Biol Chem, 290(21), 13490-9.
VanderLinden RT, Hemmis CW, Schmitt B, Ndoja A, Whitby FG, Robinson H, Cohen RE, Yao T, Hill CP (2015). Structural basis for the activation and inhibition of the UCH37 deubiquitylase. Mol Cell, 57(5), 901-11.
Clinton TR, Weinstock MT, Jacobsen MT, Szabo-Fresnais N, Pandya MJ, Whitby FG, Herbert AS, Prugar LI, McKinnon R, Hill CP, Welch BD, Dye JM, Eckert DM, Kay MS (2015). Design and characterization of ebolavirus GP prehairpin intermediate mimics as drug targets. Protein Sci, 24(4), 446-63.
Kemble DJ, McCullough LL, Whitby FG, Formosa T, Hill CP (2015). FACT Disrupts Nucleosome Structure by Binding H2A-H2B with Conserved Peptide Motifs. Mol Cell, 60(2), 294-306.

Global Scientific Words in Biochemistry