EUKARYOTIC GENE EXPRESSION
July 24 - August 13, 2012
Application Deadline: April 15, 2012

Instructors:
Joaquin Espinosa, University of Colorado at Boulder
W. Lee Kraus, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
Ali Shilatifard, Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Dylan Taatjes, University of Colorado at Boulder

The Eukaryotic Gene Expression Course is designed for students, postdocs, and principal investigators who have recently ventured into the exciting area of gene regulation. The course will focus on state-of-the-art strategies and techniques employed in the field. Emphasis will be placed both on in vitro and in vivo protein-DNA interactions and on novel methodologies to study gene regulation. Students will make nuclear extracts, perform in vitro transcription reactions and measure RNA levels using primer extension. Characterizations of the DNA-binding properties of site-specific transcription factors will be carried out using electrophoretic mobility shift and DNase I footprinting assays. In addition, students will learn techniques for the assembly and analysis of chromatin in vitro. This will include transcription assays, chromatin footprinting and chromatin remodeling assays.

Over the past few years, the gene regulation field has developed in vivo approaches to study gene regulation. Students will be exposed to the chromatin immunoprecipitation technique. They will also use RNAi for specific knock-down experiments in mammalian cells. In addition, determining cellular gene expression profiles has been accelerated tremendously by DNA microarray technology. Students will receive hands-on training in performing and interpreting results from DNA microarrays.

Experience with basic recombinant DNA techniques is a prerequisite for admission to this course. Lectures by the instructors will cover the current status of the gene expression field, theoretical aspects of the methodology, and broader issues regarding strategies for investigating the regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes. Guest lecturers will discuss contemporary problems in eukaryotic gene regulation and technical approaches to their solution.

Speakers in the 2011 course:
Shelley Berger, University of Pennsylvania
Joan Conaway, Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Alexander Garrett, Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Thomas Gingeras, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Katherine Jones, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Robert Kingston, Mass General Hospital/Harvard Med School
Michael Levine, University of California, Berkeley
John Lis, Cornell University
Robert Martienssen, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Barbara Meyer, HHMI / University of California Berkeley
Raul Mostoslavsky, The Massachusetts General Hospital - HMS
Anders Naar, Harvard Medical School
Frank Pugh, Penn State University
Ramin Shiekhattar, The Wistar Instiute
Kevin Struhl, Harvard Medical School
Jessica Tyler, University of Texas/MD Anderson Cancer Center
Yihong Wan, UT Southwestern Medical Center
Johnathan Whetstine, MGH Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School
Keith Yamamoto, University of California, San Francisco
Richard Young, Whitehead Institute

This course is supported with funds provided by the National Cancer Institute

Cost (including board and lodging): $4,450
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