Gerd A. Blobel, MD, PhD
Professor of Pediatrics (Hematology)
Department: Pediatrics
Graduate Group Affiliations
Contact information
316H Abramson Research Center
3615 Civic Center Blvd.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
3615 Civic Center Blvd.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: (215) 590-3988
Fax: (215) 590-4834
Lab: (215) 590-4461
Fax: (215) 590-4834
Lab: (215) 590-4461
Email:
BLOBEL@CHOP.EDU
BLOBEL@CHOP.EDU
Publications
Education:
MD
Ruprecht - Karls - Universität, Heidelberg, Germany, 1986.
PhD
Rockefeller University, New York, 1991.
Permanent linkMD
Ruprecht - Karls - Universität, Heidelberg, Germany, 1986.
PhD
Rockefeller University, New York, 1991.
Description of Research Expertise
Research Interestshigher order chromatin structure, gene expression, epigenetics, globin genes, sickle cell disease, therapeutics
Description of Research
We study how genetic regulatory elements are organized spatially in the nucleus and how transcription programs and chromatin architecture are organized throughout the cell cycle to maintain lineage identity. A major effort in the lab is directed towards understanding the regulation of globin gene expression and developing approaches to perturb globin gene expression to ameliorate sickle cell disease. Our work bridges basic science with pre-clinical studies. We combine molecular, genomic, biochemical, and imaging approaches with studies in normal and gene targeted mice.
Lab Rotation Projects:
For information about rotation projects please contact me directly.
Lab personnel:
Nick Aboreden, graduate student
Abhirup Bagchi, postdoctoral fellow
Rahul Bhansali, MD, postdoctoral fellow
Raymond Carter, graduate student
Umer Farooq, PhD, postdoctoral fellow
Kate Henderson, technician
Quynn Hotan, technician
Paul Kaminski, combined degree student
Julia Kesack, technician
Eugene Khandros, MD-PhD, Assistant Professor
Jessica Lam, combined degree student
Kristen Min, technician
Nithin Sam, PhD, postdoctoral fellow
Liz Traxler, MD-PhD, postdoctoral fellow
Siqing Wang, PhD, postdoctoral fellow
Xiang Wang, PhD, postdoctoral fellow
Xiaokang Wang, PhD, postdoctoral fellow
Michael Willcockson, MD-PhD, pediatrics fellow
Selected Publications
Lam JC, Aboreden NG, Midla SC, Wang S, Huang A, Keller CA, Giardine B, Hardison RC, Zhang H, Blobel GA: YY1 controlled regulatory connectivity and transcription are influenced by the cell cycle. Nature Genet in press, 2024.Zhao H, Lin Y, Lin E, Liu F, Shu L, Jing D, Wang B, Wang M, Shan F, Zhang L, Lam JC, Midla SC, Giardine BM, Keller CA, Hardison RC, Blobel GA, Zhang H.: Genome folding principles uncovered in condensin-depleted mitotic chromosomes. Nature Genet 2024.
Vermunt MW, Luan J, Zhang Z, Thrasher AJ, Huang A, Saari MS, Khandros E, Beagrie RA, Zhang S, Vemulamada P, Brilleman M, Lee K, Yano JA, Giardine BM, Keller CA, Hardison RC, Blobel GA.: Gene silencing dynamics are modulated by transiently active regulatory elements. Mol Cell 83: 715-730, Mar 2023.
Qin K, Lan X, Huang P, Saari MS, Khandros E, Keller CA, Giardine B, Abdulmalik O, Shi J, Hardison RC, Blobel GA.: Molecular basis of polycomb group protein-mediated fetal hemoglobin repression. Blood 141: 2756-2770, Jun 2023.
Luan J, Vermunt MW, Syrett CM, Coté A, Tome JM, Zhang H, Huang A, Luppino JM, Keller CA, Giardine BM, Zhang S, Dunagin MC, Zhang Z, Joyce EF, Lis JT, Raj A, Hardison RC, Blobel GA.: CTCF blocks antisense transcription initiation at divergent promoters. Nat Struct Mol Biol 2022.
Huang P, Peslak SA, Ren R, Khandros E, Qin K, Keller CA, Giardine B, Bell HW, Lan X, Sharma M, Horton JR, Abdulmalik O, Chou ST, Shi J, Crossley M, Hardison RC, Cheng X, Blobel GA.: HIC2 controls developmental hemoglobin switching by repressing BCL11A transcription. Nature Genet 2022.
Lan X, Ren R, Feng R, Ly LC, Lan Y, Zhang Z, Aboreden N, Qin K, Horton JR, Grevet JD, Mayuranathan T, Abdulmalik O, Keller CA, Giardine B, Hardison RC, Crossley M, Weiss MJ, Cheng X, Shi J, Blobel GA.: ZNF410 Uniquely Activates the NuRD Component CHD4 to Silence Fetal Hemoglobin Expression. Mol Cell 81: 239-254, Jan 2021.
Zhang D, Huang P, Sharma M, Keller CA, Giardine B, Zhang H, Gilgenast TG, Phillips-Cremins JE, Hardison RC, Blobel GA.: Alteration of genome folding via contact domain boundary insertion. Nature Genet 52: 1076-1087, Oct 2020.
Zhang Haoyue, Emerson Daniel J, Gilgenast Thomas G, Titus Katelyn R, Lan Yemin, Huang Peng, Zhang Di, Wang Hongxin, Keller Cheryl A, Giardine Belinda, Hardison Ross C, Phillips-Cremins Jennifer E, Blobel Gerd A: Chromatin structure dynamics during the mitosis-to-G1 phase transition. Nature 576(7785): 158-162, 12 2019.
Grevet JD, Lan X, Hamagami N, Edwards CR, Sankaranarayanan L, Ji X, Bhardwaj SK, Face CJ, Posocco DF, Abdulmalik O, Keller CA, Giardine B, Sidoli S, Garcia BA, Chou ST, Liebhaber SA, Hardison RC, Shi J, and Blobel GA: Domain-focused CRISPR-screen identifies HRI as a fetal hemoglobin regulator in human erythroid cells. Science 2018.