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Research Internship and Science Education (RISE) Program
Summary: Victor Corces studies gene expression and the role of chromatin structure and nuclear organization in the control of eukaryotic gene transcription. His HHMI project involves training and mentoring Atlanta public school students, with the ultimate goal of having them graduate from Emory University and go on to graduate science programs. The project also includes recruiting graduate students and postdocs to mentor the students and develop teaching skills.
Project Summary
We will create a new educational program called Research Internship and Science Education, or RISE, at Emory University with the goal of mentoring students from Atlanta public high schools so that they develop an interest in biomedical science careers. A special instructional program will prepare these students for admission to college and, more specifically, to Emory University, which will award a full tuition scholarship to any RISE student accepted to the university. These educational activities have three objectives: (1) to increase the number of undergraduate students from underprivileged backgrounds at Emory, (2) to train and mentor these students while they are in high school and at Emory in cutting-edge biomedical research through experiential learning in the laboratory augmented by specially designed lecture courses, and (3) to train graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to become passionate about teaching and to follow careers that involve undergraduate teaching in addition to research.
To accomplish these goals, we will first recruit a cadre of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who are deeply interested in teaching. We and the students will establish an educational relationship with Atlanta public high schools. Talks by local scientists, with special emphasis on women and members of underrepresented minority groups, will help make the high school students aware of career opportunities in the field of biomedical research. Students who show special aptitude and interest for the biological sciences will receive academic enrichment and support during the academic year and summers to help them succeed in rigorous science classes.
These high school students will also work at Emory in a specially designed laboratory experience in which they will carry out independent research projects and participate in other educational activities. The research projects will involve the use of molecular genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, cell biology, and biochemistry to characterize the function of proteins involved in the organization of chromatin structure. The students will carry out their research in a separate laboratory space where they will be able to design, analyze, and interpret their own experiments.
The goal of these activities is to mentor and motivate high school students to help them succeed in their academic courses, with the ultimate objective of being accepted into the Emory undergraduate program, where they will continue to he trained for research careers. Once at the university, these and other undergraduates interested in biomedical research will continue to participate in laboratory research. Upon graduation from college, the students should be well prepared for a research career and admission to the top graduate programs in the country.
Research Summary
Our research interests are in the field of gene expression and the role of chromatin structure and nuclear organization in the control of eukaryotic gene transcription. In particular, our lab studies the mechanisms by which chromatin insulators affect gene expression. Insulators are nucleoprotein complexes characterized experimentally by two properties: they buffer transgenes from chromosomal position effects, and they interfere with enhancer-promoter interactions when inserted between these two sequences.
Work in the lab has lead to the identification of three different proteins involved in the function of a Drosophila insulator. Studies of the biochemical properties of these proteins as well as their subnuclear localization have led to a model suggesting that multiple individual insulator sites can come together at specific nuclear locations to form insulator bodies. Through this mechanism, the chromatin fiber forms rosette-like structures, partitioning different regions of the genome into distinct domains that can be independently regulated. The normal role of insulators may then be to establish independent domains of higher-order chromatin structure and, as a consequence, specific patterns of nuclear organization. It is possible that these patterns can be altered during cell differentiation by modulating the activity of specific insulators.
In addition to the work on chromatin insulators, we have been studying other aspects of chromatin structure that play a role in the control of gene expression such as the role of histone H3 phosphorylation in transcription. Our results suggest that modification by phosphorylation of histone H3 may be an important mechanism in the regulation of eukaryotic transcription on par with other modifications such as acetylation and methylation.
Last updated September 2007
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