Contact Information 
rstibbetts@facstaff.wisc.edu
608-262-0027 (office); 608-262-0332 (lab)
3059 WI Institute Medical Research
Title
Professor of Human Oncology
Research Description
Current work in our lab is aimed at understanding how diverse growth-inhibitory signals, including DNA damage, cell-cell contact and growth factor depletion down regulate gene expression through the CREB pathway and how defects in this regulation contribute to tumorigenesis. A second related project is deciphering how alternative splicing influences DNA damage repair and tumor suppression using cellular and in vivo (mouse) models. Finally, our laboratory has developed several Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) models for the motor neuron disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. We are using these models to probe genetic mechanisms of neurodegeneration. We actively collaborate with both basic science and clinical colleagues within and outside the UW campus on each of these projects. I also teach material related to cell growth and DNA damage repair for several on-campus graduate programs, serve on both NINDS and NCI grant review panels and have served as editor and ad hoc reviewer for the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Nature, the EMBO Journal and other journals.