CANCELLED
When:
Thursday, January 31, 2019
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CT
Where: Robert H Lurie Medical Research Center, Searle Seminar Room, 303 E. Superior, Chicago, IL 60611 map it
Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students
Contact:
Vanessa Hughes
(312) 503-5229
Group: Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics Seminar Series
Category: Lectures & Meetings
The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Departmental Seminar Series presents:
Christopher Vakoc, MD, PhD
Professor
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Our laboratory studies how transcription factors, chromatin proteins, and signaling molecules cooperate to maintain the cancer cell state. We make extensive use of CRISPR-Cas9 genetic screens, epigenomics, and biochemistry to study gene regulatory mechanisms. Our goal is to develop a new generation of therapies that reprogram transcription to eliminate cancer cells. The primary focus of our research for several years has been the subset of leukemias caused by rearrangements of the MLL gene. In this disease, we have use RNAi and CRISPR screening to reveal several transcriptional dependencies, including the BET bromodomain protein BRD4. More recently, we have begun exploring epigenetic mechanisms in solid tumors. In my talk, I will discuss how transcription factor master regulators establish inter-tumoral heterogeneity of cell fates in lung and pancreas cancers.