Our Science – Bustin Website

Michael Bustin, Ph.D.

Laboratory of Metabolism Head, Protein Section Senior Investigator Building 37 Room 3122 Bethesda, MD 20892 Phone:   301-496-5234 Fax:   301-496-8419 E-Mail:   bustin@helix.nih.gov Link: Other Homepage

Biography

Michael Bustin received his PhD from University at California, Berekely and did postdoctoral work in the area of protein chemistry, in the laboratory of Drs. S. Moore and W. Stein at the Rockefeller University in New York, and in the area of immunochemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, were he was appointed as an associate professor. A member of the Senior Biomedical Research, he was an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and a Guest Lecturer at Tel Aviv University, Israel. He served on the editorial board of several journals, and received several awards including the Humboldt prize. His research interests center on the role of chromosomal proteins in chromatin function, gene expression, development and cancer.

Research

Chromosomal Proteins and Chromatin Function

In eukaryotic cells most of the processes involving DNA such as transcription, replication and repair occur in the context of chromatin and are regulated by precise and specific interactions between chromosomal proteins and the chromatin fiber. The chromatin fiber is a major regulator of gene expression and epigenetics, processes shown to play major roles in tumorigenesis. Indeed, chromatin is increasingly used as a molecular target for anticancer drug action. Therefore, understanding of the basic biological processes that regulate the structure and function of chromatin is necessary for the development of efficient diagnostic procedures and therapeutic approaches to combat various diseases including cancer. The research aim of the Protein Section is to study the molecular mechanisms whereby nuclear proteins affect the structure and function of chromatin and play a role in establishing the cellular phenotype. The techniques and approaches that we are developing are applicable to the study of other nuclear proteins including those involved in carcinogenesis.
The laboratory employs a multidisciplinary approach, including analysis of transgenic and knock-out mice, and methodologies used in molecular biology, biochemistry, cell biology and immunochemistry, to study:

1. the molecular mechanisms whereby chromosomal proteins modulate gene expression from chromatin
2. the mechanisms whereby chromosomal proteins modulate embryonic differentiation and oncogenic transformation.
3. the role of specific chromosomal proteins in modulating DNA repair processes.
4. the role of chromatin binding proteins in epigenetic regulation.
5. the organization of specific chromosomal proteins in chromatin and their role in chromatin dynamics

For more detail of our research program, list of publication, and representative results please access our alternative web site,

This page was last updated on 6/11/2008.