{"id":3010,"date":"2022-12-21T12:17:26","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T17:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/design\/?page_id=3010"},"modified":"2026-07-29T17:09:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:09:49","slug":"research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/bernsteinlab\/research\/","title":{"rendered":"Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Histone variant biology in development & disease<\/strong><\/h2>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ text_font=”||||||||” text_text_color=”#141414″ text_line_height=”1.9em” header_font=”||||||||” header_2_font=”||||||||” module_alignment=”center” height=”300px” custom_margin=”||30px|” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

We have uncovered a critical tumor suppressive role for the histone variant macroH2A in the progression of malignant melanoma using both\u00a0in vitro<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0in vivo<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>cellular models (Kapoor et al.,\u00a0Nature<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>2010), and recently demonstrated a key role for macroH2A in regulating inflammation in the melanoma tumor microenvironment (Filipescu et al.,\u00a0Nature Cell Biol\u00a0<\/em>2023). We also reported that macroH2A acts as a barrier to induced pluripotency by repressing a set of genes required for the early stages of reprogramming (Gaspar-Maia et al.,\u00a0Nature Comms<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>2013). Collectively, these studies suggest that macroH2A deficiency contributes to epigenetic plasticity and its loss facilitates oncogenic transcriptional programs. We continue to study macroH2A function using various mouse models and its role in the tumor microenvironment.<\/p>\n

Also, in the context of melanoma, we demonstrated an oncogenic role for the H2A.Z isoform, H2A.Z.2, in promoting melanoma cell proliferation (Vardabasso et al.,\u00a0<\/span>Mol Cell\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>2015) and continue to study H2A.Z histone chaperone complexes in disease. We also investigate the role of histone variants in the context of the cancer epigenome, and how they control transcriptional output via 3D chromatin structure.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ module_class=”imageallignment” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_color=”RGBA(0,0,0,0)” use_background_color_gradient=”on” background_color_gradient_direction=”115deg” background_color_gradient_stops=”#00aeef 0%|#221f72 100%” background_color_gradient_start=”#00aeef” background_color_gradient_end=”#221f72″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||” custom_css_main_element_last_edited=”on|desktop” custom_css_main_element_tablet=”margin-top:60px!important” custom_css_main_element_phone=”margin-top:60px!important”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/bernsteinlab2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/691\/2026\/07\/Micro-C-chr11-1.jpg” title_text=”Micro-C-chr11-1″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#FFFFFF” height=”500px” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n

Key Articles<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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