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Michael D. Bulger, Ph.D.

Contact Information

Faculty Appointments

Biography

Research

Dr. Bulger is interested in the interplay between tissue-specific gene expression and large-scale patterns of chromatin structure, as well as mechanisms by which enhancers and locus control regions (LCRs) mediate gene activation over large genomic distances. He addresses these questions using genes up-regulated or specifically expressed during late erythroid differentiation, including the b-globin genes, as models. Ongoing or planned projects in his lab include:

(1) Modeling the formation of active chromatin domains in different experimental systems, including stably integrated transgenes in cell culture and reconstituted minichromosomes in cell-free extracts, in order to determine the cis-acting sequences and DNA-binding protein factors involved in their establishment and maintenance;

(2) Characterizing non-genic transcription within the b-globin locus, as well as other loci, and investigating the relationship between such transcription and domain-wide gene regulation;

(3) Identifying factors that facilitate enhancer-promoter and/or LCR-promoter communication at the b-globin locus, in order to gain clues as to how such communication occurs;

(4) Identifying factors that bind to 3'HS1 of the b-globin locus, which is the most prominent site of attachment to nuclear matrix at this region, in order to investigate the relationship between nuclear architecture and gene expression;

(5) Investigating the role of serine protease inhibitors (serpins) in chromatin condensation and gene regulation in differentiating erythroid cells.

Credentials

Education

1990
BS | Pennsylvania State University
Molecular and Cell Biology

1996
PhD | University of California at San Diego
Biology

Post-doctoral Training & Residency

1996 - 2003
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA.

Awards

2006 - Present
Beckman Young Investigators Award, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation

2000 - Present
Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences

1992
Excellence in Teaching Award, University of California, San Diego, CA

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Publications

Journal Articles

2020
Fox S; Myers JA; Davidson C; Getman M; Kingsley PD; Frankiewicz N; Bulger M. "Hyperacetylated chromatin domains mark cell type-specific genes and suggest distinct modes of enhancer function". Nat Commun. 2020; : 4544.

2018
Tucker C; Bhattacharya S; Wakabayashi H; Bellaousov S; Kravets A; Welle SL; Myers J; Hayes JJ; Bulger M; Rustchenko E. "Transcriptional Regulation on Aneuploid Chromosomes in Diverse Candida albicans Mutants". Sci Rep. 2018; : 1630.

2017
Wakabayashi H, Tucker C, Bethlendy G, Kravets A, Welle SL, Bulger M, Hayes JJ, Rustchenko E. "NuA4 histone acetyltransferase activity is required for H4 acetylation on a dosagecompensated monosomic chromosome that confers resistance to fungal toxins." Epigenetics Chromatin. 2017; 10: 49.

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