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Cell: A conversation with Job Dekker

 
 

Job Dekker, PhD

A pioneer in the study of the three-dimensional structure of the genome, Job Dekker, PhD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, professor of biochemistry & molecular pharmacology and co-director of the Program in Systems Biology, sat down with Cell to talk about how new insights into chromosome architecture is changing the way we think about gene expression, cellular function, development and disease.

Principal investigator of the Center for 3D Structure and Physics of the Genome, Dr. Dekker developed the chromosome conformation capture technologies that are the heart of the “3C,” “5C,” “Hi-C” and “Micro-C” biochemical techniques used to determine how DNA segments interact and are linked to one another. They are used by researchers worldwide to map the structure and organization of chromosomes inside cells. The Center for 3D Structure and Physics of the Genome is funded by a five-year, $15 million grant from the National Institutes of Medicine Common Fund.

Related links on UMassMedNow:
STAT: UMMS study of 3D genome may reveal ‘hidden world of folding diseases’
Center for 3D Structure and Physics of the Genome established at UMMS
Job Dekker becomes seventh Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at UMass Medical School