What do we work on? Oof. How much time do yo have? Many exciting things (and lots of rotation and thesis projects)

COME TALK TO US!!

Short version: Epigenetics and gene expression.

Longer version (in no particular order):

1) Developmental control of globin gene expression and how it relates to diseases affecting the globin genes such sickle cell disease, the first known monogenic disease, and thalassemia. Can we find new regulators of globin gene expression that may be druggable to treat these diseases? With our wonderful collaborators, such as Junwei Shi’s group, we have carried out CRISPR-based screens and found numerous such new factors, and now the fun begins to work them all up. And we had no idea how many new interesting things we would find in this mature field!

2) Nuclear architecture: How is the genome organized in terms of compartmentalization, domains, and regulatory loops? What are the factors that sculpt the spatial genome? Yes, there is life outside of CTCF and cohesin! What happens to the complex genome structure patterns every time a cell divides, or when a cell differentiates? These are some of the questions that keep as awake at night (and during the day!)

3) We are dipping our toes into T cell malignancies by studying how transcription factors that are cancer dependencies mis-wire enhancers and promoters in T cells to cause malignancy.

We are also part of the wonderful Epigenetics Institute at UPenn with many great collaborators (https://hosting.med.upenn.edu/epigenetics/faculty/).

Also check out the Upenn faculty website (which does not get updated as often :-( (https://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/faculty/index.php/g275/p1105)

How do we do things?

Can you figure out these acronyms? Hi-C, Capture-C, Micro-C, ChIP-seq, TT-seq, PRO-seq, ATAC-seq, STORM, SMT, optCAS12, FACS, human CD34+ cells, NBSGW mice, etc etc.