Oscar Campos, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Cellular Molecular Pharmacology
School of Medicine

My PhD work in Siavash Kurdistani's Lab at UCLA was focused on uncovering the evolutionary origins of the eukaryotic epigenetic control machinery. This machinery, the core component of which is the histones, is unique to eukaryotes and critical for multicellular life. My teammates and I made the surprising and groundbreaking discovery that the histone H3 is an oxidoreductase enzyme.

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This function is critical for eukaryotic cells and raises the unprecedented and profound notion that histones may have first evolved to enable the eukaryotic ancestors to adapt to oxygenated life before being incorporated as a way to compact DNA or regulate gene expression.

As a postdoc in Wendell Lim's lab at UCSF, I am expanding on my interests in epigenetics by developing a synthetic biology framework for engineering epigenetic and cell differentiation control systems in mammalian cells, with particular emphasis on CAR T cells. My goal is to develop a toolbox of synthetic cell circuits incorporating epigenetic regulation that will enable programmable differentiation of T cells into multiple subtypes with complementary therapeutic phenotypes.

Education & Training

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• Ph.D. Molecular Biology University of California, Los Angeles 06/2018
• M.Sc. Kinesiology Western University 06/2011
• B.Sc. Kinesiology Western University 06/2008

Interests

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• Epigenetics
• Synthetic biology
• Cancer immunotherapy

Websites

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• @@OA_Campos on Twitter (twitter.com)

Publications (7)

Top publication keywords:
Protein MultimerizationIronDiabetes Mellitus, ExperimentalPhysical EnduranceChromatin Assembly and DisassemblySaccharomyces cerevisiaeHistonesCopperOxidoreductasesEndoplasmic ReticulumMuscle, Smooth, VascularSaccharomyces cerevisiae ProteinsStreptozocinVasodilationPhysical Conditioning, Animal

• A pathogenic role for histone H3 copper reductase activity in a yeast model of Friedreich's ataxia.
  Science advances 2021 Campos OA, Attar N, Cheng C, Vogelauer M, Mallipeddi NV, Schmollinger S, Matulionis N, Christofk HR, Merchant SS, Kurdistani SK
• The histone H3-H4 tetramer is a copper reductase enzyme.
  Science (New York, N.Y.) 2020 Attar N, Campos OA, Vogelauer M, Cheng C, Xue Y, Schmollinger S, Salwinski L, Mallipeddi NV, Boone BA, Yen L, Yang S, Zikovich S, Dardine J, Carey MF, Merchant SS, Kurdistani SK
• Endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondria junction is required for iron homeostasis.
  The Journal of biological chemistry 2017 Xue Y, Schmollinger S, Attar N, Campos OA, Vogelauer M, Carey MF, Merchant SS, Kurdistani SK
• Evolution of histone 2A for chromatin compaction in eukaryotes.
  eLife 2014 Macadangdang BR, Oberai A, Spektor T, Campos OA, Sheng F, Carey MF, Vogelauer M, Kurdistani SK
• The role of resistance and aerobic exercise training on insulin sensitivity measures in STZ-induced Type 1 diabetic rodents.
  Metabolism: clinical and experimental 2013 Hall KE, McDonald MW, Grisé KN, Campos OA, Noble EG, Melling CW
• High-intensity endurance training results in faster vessel-specific rate of vasorelaxation in type 1 diabetic rats.
  PloS one 2013 Murias JM, Dey A, Campos OA, Estaki M, Hall KE, Melling CW, Noble EG
• Vessel-specific rate of vasorelaxation is slower in diabetic rats.
  Diabetes & vascular disease research 2012 Murias JM, Campos OA, Hall KE, McDonald MW, Melling CW, Noble EG