Kenneth S. Zaret, Ph.D.

Penn Study Brings New Understanding to How Fundamental DNA Sequences Govern Gene Activity

A team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shed new light on how the structure of regulatory sequences in DNA is packaged in a cell. “This work has implications for better understanding the role that gene sequences called enhancers play within our DNA for governing gene activity,” said senior author Ken Zaret, PhD, a professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The findings are published this week in Molecular Cell.
Ben Z. Stanger, M.D., Ph.D.

Ben Stanger elected to Association of American Physicians

Ben Z. Stanger, MD, PhD, an associate professor of Medicine and associate investigator of the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute was elected to the Association of American Physicians (AAP), a nonprofit, professional society for physicians dedicated to the pursuit and advancement of medical knowledge. Stanger and his lab study how cells acquire their specialized features and their ability to adapt to new roles when given exposure to new, different conditions. His work has focused on gastrointestinal cancer and tissue regeneration. Stanger received his Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy from Harvard Medical School and came to the University of Pennsylvania in 2006.

Read More

Marisa S. Bartolomei, Ph.D.

Seeing Cell to Cell Differences for First Time Explains Symptoms of Rare Genetic Disorders

Every cell in the body has two genomes, one from the mother and one from the father. Until now, researchers have lacked the tools to examine — in a single cell –the exact readout from each genome to make RNA. Using a new technology that allows researchers to do just that, an interdisciplinary University of Pennsylvania team examined a rare disease in which these two genomes are expressed differently throughout the body, even sometimes in the same organ. They found that at the single-cell level gene expression was highly variable and quite different than expected, which is now shedding light on the molecular causes of rare diseases and perhaps the complex nature of tumors.”This is a great example of cross-school collaboration,” said co-senior author Marisa Bartolomei, PhD, a professor of Cell and Developmental Biology in the Perelman School of Medicine. Her colleagues are co-first author Jennifer M. Kalish, MD, PhD, an expert in rare growth disorders from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and co-first author Paul Ginar, an MD//PhD candidate, and co-senior author Arjun Raj, PhD, both from the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Penn, who devised the technology to image single genes in individual cells. The team published their findings in Genes & Development.

READ PRESS RELEASE