EUKARYOTIC GENE EXPRESSION
July 21 - August 10, 2015
Application Deadline: May15, 2015

Instructors:
Karen Adelman, NIH/NIEHS
Geeta Narlikar, University of California San Francisco
Ali Shilatifard, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine
Dylan Taatjes, University of Colorado at Boulder

See the roll of honor - who's taken the course in the past

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. Students will isolate transcription factor complexes and assess their activity in functional 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 learn widely used techniques such as qRT-PCR and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). They will also use RNAi for specific knock-down experiments. Determining cellular gene expression profiles has been accelerated tremendously by microarray and sequencing technology. Students will receive hands-on training in performing and interpreting results from microarrays, ChIP-Seq, and RNA-Seq data sets.

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. Emphasis will be placed on advantages and limitations of specific techniques, and data interpretation. The students are encouraged and expected to actively participate in these discussions. Guest lecturers will discuss contemporary problems in eukaryotic gene regulation and technical approaches to their solution. From the guest lectures and discussions, students will learn to design effective experiments, properly interpret their own data, and critically evaluate the gene expression literature.

2015 Speakers include:
David Bentley, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Wendy Bickmore, University of Edinburgh, UK
Stephen Buratowski, Harvard Medical School
Christopher Burge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Luciano Di Croce, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Spain
Joaquin Espinosa, HHMI/University of Colorado at Boulder
Eileen Furlong, EMBL, Germany
James Goodrich, University of Colorado at Boulder
Steven Hahn, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Robert Kingston, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School
Michael Leving, University of California, Berkeley
Barbara Meyer, HHMI/University of California, Berkeley
John Rinn, Harvard University
Michael Rosbash, Brandeis University
Jessica Tyler, UT/MD Anderson Cancer Center
Johnathan Whetstine, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School

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

Cost (including tuition, board and lodging): $4,705