Dr. James Davie, PhD, FCAHS, FRSC

Dr. Jim Davie is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics at the University of Manitoba, a Senior Scientist at the CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute, and Scientist at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba. He is the Secretary of the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada, and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Chromatin Dynamics.

Epigenetic is a term used to describe changes in gene expression that are stable between cell divisions. Chromatin modifying enzymes including lysine acetytransferases (KATs), histone deacetylases (HDACs), histone kinases, histone phosphatases, lysine/arginine methyltransferases, lysine/arginine demethylases, ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes and DNA methyltransferases mediate chromatin remodeling and are components of a complex epigenetic network regulating gene expression during development, differentiation and disease. Multistep tumourigenesis is a progression of events resulting from alterations in the processing of the genetic information. These alterations result from stable genetic changes (mutations) in tumour suppressor genes and oncogenes (e.g. RAS) and potentially reversible epigenetic changes. DNA methylation and histone post-translational modifications (PTMs) are two epigenetic mechanisms that are altered in cancer cells.

Dr. Davie's research program has three research themes designed to understand the roles of epigenetic programming and nuclear structure in gene expression in normal and cancer cells:

  1. to characterize histone PTMs and chromatin modifying enzymes associated with transcribed chromatin in normal and cancer cells;
  2. to investigate the mechanisms by which signal transduction pathways control chromatin dynamics;
  3. to explore the organization of chromatin in the nucleus of normal and cancer cells.

 

Contact information:

Children’s Hospital Research Institute of MB
600A-715 McDermot Avenue, JBRC
Winnipeg, MB R3E 3P4 Canada
Tel:  204.975.7732
Fax: 204.977.5691
Lab: 204.789.3561
Jim.Davie@umanitoba.ca

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