Dean Tantin, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology

Dean Tantin, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Utah and a member of the Nuclear Control of Cell Growth and Differentiation Program at Huntsman Cancer Institute.

Tantin studies gene expression and its relationship to cancer. He focuses on a class of proteins that respond to cellular changes in metabolism and oxidation (which can create cell damage) by turning other genes on and off. The proteins are called Oct1, Oct2, and Oct4 and are altered in human cancers. These proteins affect how a cell knows what to be and how it responds to increased metabolic needs—both things that are altered in cancer.

Tantin received a bachelor's and PhD degree from the University of California, San Diego.