Research
The Whitehouse lab is broadly interested in understanding how chromatin functions in the regulation of essential processes such as DNA replication, gene transcription and epigenetics. Chromatin helps regulate many crucial cellular events, but key questions such as: what are the mechanisms that govern how chromatin folds in 3D space? How are complex gene regulatory pathways controlled by chromatin? and how are intricate chromatin structures faithfully replicated during S-phase? Our understanding of these key questions is limited because current available methods have limited resolution and are incapable of detecting rare events in a population. We are developing a suite of new genomic approaches that can map key events with high precision and single-molecule resolution. For example: in recent years, we have pioneered the use of single-molecule Nanopore sequencing to study how the DNA replication machinery moves through chromatin. In addition, we have established a novel method to map how proteins and DNA associate in the cell to regulate gene activation and cell cycle. We are keen to expand the use of single-molecule genomics methods to understand vital pathways that underlie how gene expression states can be propagated through generations.
Current Projects:
- Project 1: Understanding epigenetic processes with high-resolution mapping of DNA replication.
- Project 2: Novel methods to map chromatin structure in cells.
Bio
Biology program at MSKCC and is the Director of the Center for Epigenetics Research. Dr Whitehouse received this BSc from the University of Lancaster, UK and his PhD from the University of Dundee, Scotland. Dr Whitehouse completed his postdoctoral training at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Dr Whitehouse has been actively involved in Epigenetics research for 25 years; his early work revealed the biochemical mechanisms by which ATP deponent chromatin remodeling enzymes function, more recently his research group has developed new genomics approaches to map the epigenome at high resolution.