RESEARCH

Genome-wide analysis of translational regulation in human cells.

The eukaryotic gene expression program is regulated at many levels, including mRNA transcription, processing, localization, decay and translation, each of which must be correctly orchestrated for a cell to properly function.  Changes in mRNA abundance have been widely studied over many different conditions in many model organisms to obtain a global picture of the variation and regulation of transcript abundance in human cells and tissues, in development, physiological responses, and disease.  While these studies have revealed much information about cellular processes, regulation of mRNA abundance accounts for only part of the regulation of protein abundance.  Thus, studying the architecture of translational regulation on a genomic scale will combine with previous data to provide a much richer and more complete picture of how the global program of human gene expression is regulated. 

Mini profile:  

Birthdate:  April 22

Education:  

B.A. Molecular and Cell Biology, 2002

University of California, Berkeley

Senior Honors Thesis in the Eisen Lab

Publications:  

Flexibility and constraint in the nucleosome core landscape of Caenorhabditis elegans chromatin.

Johnson SM, Tan FJ, McCullough HL, Riordan DP, Fire AZ.

Genome Res. 2006 Dec;16(12):1505-16. Epub 2006 Oct 12.

Population genetic variation in gene expression is associated with phenotypic variation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Fay JC, McCullough HL, Sniegowski PD, Eisen MB.

Genome Biol. 2004;5(4):R26. Epub 2004 Mar 24.