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Center for Epigenetics Faculty Johns Hopkins Faculty:
Gregory Bowman - visit the Bowman lab
Email Dr. Cole Jeffrey Corden Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics Dr. Corden’s lab focuses on mRNA biogenesis. The lab uses genetic and biochemical approaches in yeast and mammals to study the control of eucaryotic RNA polymerase II, particularly through its unusual repetitive domain at the C-terminus of the largest subunit. This C-terminal domain (CTD) is comprised of tandem repeats of the consensus sequence TyrSerProThrSerProSer. A major effort in the lab is directed at studies of proteins that bind the CTD. Andrew Feinberg, Director Dr. Giardiellos primary field of research focuses on cancer in the gastrointestinal tract. His major areas of investigation include assessment of the risk of neoplasia in gastrointestinal conditions, the study of the polyposis syndromes phenotypes with emphasis on the association of these disorders to colorectal and extraintestinal neoplasm, evaluation of phenotypic-genotypic interaction in the inherited colorectal cancer syndromes, chemoprevention clinical trials in the inherited colorectal cancer syndromes, and evaluation of biomarkers of colorectal cancer. The significance of this research is to identify therapeutic agents that will prevent the development of colorectal cancer in high-risk individuals. Also, his research seeks to determine factors (biomarkers/genetic mutations) that will identify individuals presymptomatically at high risk for colorectal cancer, allowing the implementation of secondary prevention strategies.
Email Dr. Kaufmann Andre Levchenko Department of Biomedical Engineering Dr. Levchenko’s lab is interested in how cells respond to changes in their micro-environment and how they can define their microenvironment to create a medium for communication. Live cells have evolved sophisticated ways to detect external signals robustly, often in a very noisy environment. In particular, they have a system of dedicated coupled chemical reactions (signaling pathways) that convey the information about changing environment from the cell surface sensors (receptors) to the internal decision making ‘machines’, including cell engines (cytoskeleton and motor proteins) and genetic material (by means of transcription factors). It is essential for a cell to perform this signal transduction process in a correct fashion, otherwise its chances of survival rapidly diminish.
Dr. Onyango’s research is aimed at identifying the major players in protein acetylation and deacetylation in the mitochondria. He is dissecting the functions of these post-translational protein modifications in mitochondria biology, especially in apoptosis, metabolism, and aging. The lab’s goal is to build a (de)acetylation network(s) and to understand how defects in such network(s) might account for mitochondrial associated diseases like heart, kidney and liver diseases as well as cancer, infertility, diabetes and stroke. Dr. Pevsner studies the molecular basis of childhood brain disorders including autism, Rett Syndrome, Down Syndrome, and lead poisoning. For studies of human brain disorders they perform gene expression profiling to identify disease markers and to search for biochemical pathways that have been disturbed in brain or peripheral cells from patients. The Pevsner Lab also is involved in bioinformatics research and developing computer programs to streamline large-scale and high-throughput research.
Dr. Reeves is Faculty Director of the Transgenic Core Facility and Director of the Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program. The Reeves laboratory works on several aspects of the correspondingly complex phenotypes of trisomy using both animal models and studies in human populations. Down syndrome (DS) occurs as a result of Trisomy 21 and is among the most complicated genetic conditions compatible with human survival. The lab has developed and characterized mouse models that are useful for studies of aneuploidy and has initiated a multi-site consortium to identify human modifier genes that account for variability in the presentation of DS, beginning with congenital heart disease and cognitive skills. Definition of the timing and location of malformations, and identification of the gene(s) primarily contributing, forms the basis for genetic, pharmacologic and stem cell therapies to ameliorate these anomalies. Ms. Schneider oversees The Center Scholars Program, developed by CTY and Dr. Andrew Feinberg's Center for Excellence in Genome Science (CEGS). The program was designed to encourage CTY qualified, under-represented minority students to pursue a career in Genomic Research by providing an opportunity to study genomics and participate in a graduate level research experience. The program bridges several summers in which students attend CTY's research based Genomics course at the JHU summer site and participate 6-week paid summer lab internship in one of the medical school laboratories working in the field of genetics or genomics.
Cynthia Wolberger, Co-Director - visit the Wolberger lab
Thomas Albert Marcia Cruz-Correa Eric Green Vilmundur Gudnasson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Baylin laboratory seeks to uncover the molecular basis for changes in cancer cell DNA which impairs important regulatory genes necessary to prevent the formation of tumors. These genetic changes are permanent in the DNA and cannot be reversed. The change studied by the Baylin and Herman labs is an alternative way in which cancer cells inactivate genes by adding methyl groups to the start regions of genes and this is associated with a "silencing" of the gene. Unlike DNA mutations, DNA methylation abnormalities are reversible by drugs in a laboratory setting and this reversal allows cancer cells to reactivate the silenced genes and produce normal protein. Understanding how the abnormal DNA methylation arises in cancer cells, and how this change leads to silencing of genes, is extremely important for enriching the possibility of reversing this process as a strategy to prevent and/or treat cancer.
Dr. Boeke is the founding director of the 
Dr. Bowman’s lab focuses on understanding how chromosomes are packaged and physically organized. Many human diseases, including cancer and inherited developmental disorders, result from disruptions in normal gene regulation. Relatively little is known about how remodeling factors change nucleosome structure and how different factors work together to promote chromatin remodeling. The long-term goal of the lab is to understand the biochemistry and biophysics behind chromatin remodeling.
Dr. Greider is the Daniel Nathans Professor and Director of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics. Her lab focuses on understanding telomeres and telomerase and their role in chromosome stability, stem cell failure and cancer. By studying the biochemistry of telomerase and human telomerase RNA, they aim to elucidate the role of telomere maintenance in cancer in human and mouse cells. Her lab also studies a mouse model of telomere dysfunction and showed that the shortest telomere in a cell triggers a DNA damage response.
Dr. Iacobuzio-Donahue’s laboratory focuses on understanding the molecular basis for cancer metastasis as it relates to gastrointestinal cancer. To support her research she instituted the Johns Hopkins Gastrointestinal Cancer Rapid Medical Donation Program (GICRMDP) in 2003, a unique program that allows patients with terminal, metastatic cancer to agree to undergo a rapid autopsy for research into cancer metastasis. Her lab routinely applies molecular/cell biology and high-throughput genomic methods to understand those changes that impart the ability of a cancer cell to grow in an uncontrolled manner at the primary tumor site versus in target organs. Candidate genes or pathways identified through this work are further evaluated using a variety of models to explore their functional relationship to tumor progression, invasion and metastasis.
Dr. Michaelis uses yeast and mammalian cell biology, biochemistry and high-throughput genomic approaches to dissect fundamental cellular processes relevant to human health and disease. The lab focuses on two conditions: Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a rare premature aging disorder resulting from a mutation in a structural protein called lamin A; and cystic fibrosis and other diseases that arise from faulty endoplasmic reticulum quality control whereby mis-folded proteins are not properly identified and disposed of by cells.
Dr. Moran is the Paul R. McHugh Professor for Motivated Behaviors. His laboratory focuses on the controls of eating as they relate to the etiology of obesity and eating disorders. The laboratory uses multiple approaches including cell systems, genetic and dietary models of obesity in rodents, and analyses of feeding behavior in nonhuman primates. Specific projects involve examination of gut/brain in satiety, the role of hypothalamic neuropeptide systems in energy balance, interactions between energy expenditure and food intake and the identification of epigenetic factors that can bias the organism toward diabetes and obesity. His laboratory also studies developmental factors that can contribute to alterations in neural maturation.
Dr. Nichols is Vice Dean for Education, the Mary Wallace Stanton Professor of Education and professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine. Dr. Nichols currently oversees undergraduate, graduate, residency, post-doctoral and continuing medical education as well as the Welch Medical Library at Hopkins.
Dr. Platz is a cancer epidemiologist, whose research on prostate and colon cancers sits at the interface between epidemiology and basic science. She studies the association of genetic and epigenetic factors as well as circulating markers of androgenicity, inflammation, and oxidation with prostate cancer incidence and progression. For colorectal neoplasia, her work focuses on the metabolic syndrome, growth factors, and inflammation as sequelae of adiposity. She also studies the role of modifiable factors that influence these pathways, such as diet and lifestyle, in relation to the incidence of these diseases. Finally, she has a long-standing interest uncovering explanations for the notably higher rate of prostate cancer in African-American compared to white men, including racial variation in sex steroid hormones in the in utero milieu and throughout life.
Dr. Potash is co-director of the 
Eukaryotic cells package their genomes in the form of chromatin, which is comprised of histone proteins and DNA. Modification of chromatin by chemical marks affects how cellular machineries interpret the genome. The Taverna laboratory studies histone marks, such as lysine methylation and acetylation, and how they contribute to an “epigenetic/histone code” that dictates chromatin-templated functions like transcriptional activation and gene silencing. We use biochemistry and cell biology in a variety of model organisms to explore connections between gene regulation and proteins that “write” and “read” histone marks, many of which have clear links to human diseases like leukemia and other cancers. The lab also investigates links between small RNAs and histone marks involved in gene silencing.
Holly A. Taylor, PhD, MPH is assistant professor at the School of Public Health and assistant director of empirical research at the Berman Bioethics Institute.Her primary interests are the ethics of human subject research, local implementation of Federal Policy relevant to human subject research, HIV/AIDS policy, and qualitative research methods. Dr.Taylor received a Mentored Scientist Development Award in Research Ethics from the National Institutes of Health and has experience conducting both qualitative and quantitative research in the field of research ethics.
Dr. Wolberger is structural biologist who began working on mechanisms of transcription regulation as a graduate student at Harvard University. She completed postdoctoral work at the University of California, San Francisco and then at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she is now Professor of
