Faculty

Gerd A. Blobel, MD, PhD

faculty photo
Professor of Pediatrics (Hematology)
Department: Pediatrics

Contact information
316H Abramson Research Center
3615 Civic Center Blvd.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: (215) 590-3988
Fax: (215) 590-4834
Lab: (215) 590-4461
Education:
MD
Ruprecht - Karls - Universität, Heidelberg, Germany, 1986.
PhD
Rockefeller University, New York, 1991.
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Description of Research Expertise

Research Interests
higher 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
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
Scott Peslak, MD-PhD, Instructor
Vanessa Shehu, technician (Khandros)
Liz Traxler, MD-PhD, postdoctoral fellow
Ikram Ullah, PhD, postdoctoral fellow
Siqing Wang, PhD, postdoctoral fellow
Xiang Wang, PhD, postdoctoral fellow
Xiaokang Wang, PhD, postdoctoral fellow
Michael Willcockson, MD-PhD, pediatrics resident

Selected Publications

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. Nat Genet 2022.

Zhang H, Lam J, Zhang D, Lan Y, Vermunt MW, Keller CA, Giardine B, Hardison RC, Blobel GA.: CTCF and transcription influence chromatin structure re-configuration after mitosis. Nat Commun 12: 5157, Aug 2021.

Luan J, Xiang G, Gómez-García PA, Tome JM, Zhang Z, Vermunt MW, Zhang H, Huang A, Keller CA, Giardine BM, Zhang Y, Lan Y, Lis JT, Lakadamyali M, Hardison RC, Blobel GA.: Distinct properties and functions of CTCF revealed by a rapidly inducible degron system. Cell Rep 34: 108783, Feb 2021.

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. Nat 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.

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Last updated: 09/07/2023
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