Biography
Jeannie T Lee is The Philip A. Sharp, PhD, Endowed Chair in Molecular Biology, Professor of Genetics (and Pathology) at Harvard Medical School, and Vice Chair of the Department of Molecular Biology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Lee specializes in the study of epigenetic regulation by long noncoding RNAs and uses X-chromosome inactivation as a model system. She is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Harrington Rare Disease Scholar of the Harrington Discovery Institute, a recipient of the Lurie Prize from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, an awardee of the Centennial Prize from the Genetics Society of America, the 2010 Molecular Biology Prize and the 2020 Cozzarelli Prize
from the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Lee was also named a Distinguished Graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. From 2013-2018, she co-launched the Epigenetics Initiative at Harvard Medical School and served as its Co-Director. Serving on the Board of Directors of the Genetics Society of America (GSA), Dr. Lee spearheaded the TAGC (The All-Genetics) Conference in 2016. As GSA’s President, Dr. Lee established a Strategic Plan and a Development strategy for the society in 2018. She received her A.B. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard University and obtained M.D.-Ph.D degrees from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Lee then carried out postdoctoral work at the Whitehead Institute & MIT and became Chief Resident of Clinical Pathology at the Massachusetts General Hospital prior to joining the Faculty at Harvard Medical School. As a new investigator, she received the Basil O’Connor Scholar Award from the March of Dimes and the Pew Scholars Award. To translate basic knowledge to the clinic, Dr. Lee co-founded Translate Bio and Fulcrum Therapeutics, two biotech companies specializing in RNA and epigenetic therapies.
Abstract
Epigenetic Regulation by RNA G-quaduplexes
Yong Woo Lee, Uri Weissbein, Roy Blum, Michael Rosenberg, and Jeannie T. Lee
Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital; Department of Genetics, Harvard MedicalSchool, Boston MA 02114 USA
RNA G-quadruplexes (rG4) have been implicated in a multitude of cellular processes, including the regulation of transcription and translation. Although rG4-forming sequences occur throughout the mammalian transcriptome, how and where they can form remain intensely debated. Recent observations have challenged their existence in vivo. Here we develop a new pipeline for rG4 discovery in vivo. We find that rG4’s do indeed form inside cells and present evidence for rG4’s function in epigenetic regulation. Among its functions include a dynamic regulation of Polycomb recruitment and activity on a genome-wide basis.