Tim Formosa, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Utah and a member of the Nuclear Control of Cell Growth and Differentiation Program.

Formosa studies proteins involved in cell division. These proteins ensure DNA (genetic material) is precisely replicated and errors are fixed when a cell divides. Many human cancers arise because of changes in these proteins. Formosa uses yeast, which has very similar DNA to humans, to study how the cell’s machinery organizes and handles DNA .

Formosa received a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis, and a PhD from the University of California, San Francisco.