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Kanishk Jain postdoctoral fellow Strahl lab 2020
Kanishk Jain, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Brian Strahl Lab &
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

Congratulations to Dr. Kanishk Jain, postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Brian Strahl, who received a three year fellowship from the American Cancer Society for continued study and training.


The American Cancer Society (ACS) is the nationwide, community-based, voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer through research, education, advocacy, and service.

ACS Postdoctoral Fellowships provide up to three years of initial funding to support training of researchers interested in an independent career in cancer research (including basic, preclinical, clinical, cancer control, psychosocial, behavioral, epidemiology, health services and health policy research). During the second or third year of the award, ACS Postdoctoral Fellows are invited to attend a Fellows Symposium to present their work, meet with senior leaders in cancer research, and develop additional professional skills important in their transition to independent research careers.

Dr. Jain is currently a postdoctoral fellow training in the lab of Dr. Brian Strahl, Professor and Interim Chair of Biochemistry and Biophysics. Dr. Jain’s research focuses on the protein-protein interactions that govern histone PTM recognition. Particularly, he is interested in the biochemistry and biology of a chromatin-interacting putative E3 ubiquitin ligase, PHRF1, and its role in regulating tumor progression through its chromatin-related functions.

For this project titled “The role of PHD readers and PHRF1 in chromatin and cancer biology”, Dr. Jain will address an important and unanswered question regarding how chromatin engagement by a PHD finger contributes to the targeting and/or regulation of ubiquitin-ligase activity that is central to cancer signaling.