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Institute of Engineering in Medicine IEM
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  5. Michael "Geoff" Rosenfeld

Michael "Geoff" Rosenfeld

Distinguished Professor, Endocrinology, UC San Diego School of Medicine

The major focus of the investigation and scientific inquiry has recently centered on global genomic approaches to molecular mechanisms underlying transcriptional programs in development, homeostasis, and disease, emphasizing the neuroendocrine system and the CNS. The ultimate goal is to translate these insights into the development of new therapeutic and preventative approaches. The laboratory has been made seminal contributions to the fields of epigenetic regulatory mechanisms, the enhancer code of development, regulation of enhancers and the discovery of induced eRNAs, the roles of phase separation in ligand-induced enhancer activation/function, genetic regulation of transcriptional mechanisms, nuclear receptors, global genomic strategies, pituitary development, and learning and memory, Additionally, we have contributed to elucidating the mechanisms underlying actions of lncRNAs in transcriptional regulation, diseases of aging, and DNA damage repair in transcription. We have had the privilege of having been in the top twenty most cited scientists in molecular biology and genetics for several decades and for having the work recognized by election to the National Academy of Sciences, USA. In the past eight years, our laboratory has contributed novel concepts to the role of enhancers in cognitive function, nuclear architecture, and eRNAs in programs of gene transcription. It has also introduced several new technologies towards uncovering the relationship between subnuclear architectural structures and specific regulatory chromosomal regions, focusing on enhancers. The lab has uncovered several unexpected features about enhancers, including the potential role of eRNAs in enhancer:promoter interactions and the role of the so-called MegaTrans complex in estrogen-regulated enhancers. Recently, these studies have provided data indicating the key functional role of induced phase transition of enhancer RNPs in cooperative gene activation and regulated alterations in nuclear architecture in gene transcriptional programs. The lab is currently investigating abnormalities in enhancer regulation as a major component of multiple degenerative diseases including sporadic AD using single cell/nucleus global genomic approaches.