UT Affymetrix Core Facility Staff

Julia Stair Gouffon

Title: Facility Director
Email: jgouffon@utk.edu
Phone Number: (865) 974-5244
Office: 234 Jessie W. Harris Building

About Julia Gouffon:

Julia has run the Affymetrix Core Facility at UTK for the past 5 years. A Knoxville native, Julia obtained her Master's in Microbiology at UTK. Her research initially focussed on microbial communities in environmental samples. Prior to working at the Affy Core, Julia designed a 16S RNA macroarray to quantify the various microbial members. Now she performs the same type of work using Phylochips. While analyzing microarray data for investigators involved in cancer, diabetes, and nutritional analysis, Julia decided to pursue a doctorate in Comparitive and Experimental Medicine to better understand Eukaryotic systems and diseases. Her research involves assessing genetic variations in metabolic genes.

Vitae:

Julia Gouffon's Vitae (Microsoft Word document)

Dr. Jay Whelan

Title: Executive Director
Email: jwhelan@utk.edu
Phone Number: (865) 974-6237
Office: 229 Jessie W. Harris Building
Web Site Address: http://myprofile.cos.com/jwhelan

About Dr. Whelan:

Dr. Whelan is Head of the Nutrition Department. It was his vision to bring an Affymetrix Core Facility to The University of Tennessee at Knoxville in an effort to provide students and investigators access to cutting edge technology for their research. Dr. Whelan's research interests include the effects of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids on tumerogenesis. He is an authority on the role of dietary polyunsaturated fats and cancer. The research in his laboratory centers on the cellular and biomolecular effects of dietary fats as they relate to a variety of cancers. Specifically, he has investigated the effects of omega-3 (n-3) fats (such as those derived from fish oils) on the growth and development of tumors as they progress from benign forms to metastatic cancers. He has discovered that n-6 fats, in particular arachidonic acid (AA), can negate the beneficial effects of n-3 fats. He has also found that inhibiting AA metabolism can reduce >90% of preexisting intestinal tumors and reconstituting AA metabolism rescues the tumors. AA is found only in animal products and is clearly a pro-cancer dietary lipid. His research focuses on colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, and prostate cancer, but he believes his research can apply to other cancers. With regards to prostate cancer, he are interested in preventing and/or delaying the regrowth of prostate tumors that have metastasized to secondary sites.

Vitae:

See personal website.