Featured Alumni

Dr. Shelley L. Berger received her Ph.D. in Cell & Molecular Biology in 1987 for her work on the regulation of transcription by the polyomavirus enhancer and the adenovirus E1A gene products. Following her Ph.D., Dr. Berger continued in the field of transcriptional regulation in the laboratory of Dr. L. Guarente in the Department of Biology at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During her postdoctoral training, Dr. Berger worked on the identification and characterization of proteins that can serve as adaptors between the basal transcription machinery and upstream activators. Her work lead to the discovery of two yeast proteins, ADA2 and GCN5, that function as transcriptional adaptors.

After completion of her postdoctoral training, Dr. Berger joined The Wistar Institute in 1993 as an assistant professor. At the Wistar Institute, she continued to work on these transcriptional adaptors. These proteins not only turned out to be molecular adaptors, but components of a complex capable of covalently modifying histones, the main component of the DNA/histone complex known as chromatin. This modification, the acetylation of the N-terminal “tails” of the histones, performs a central role in the regulation of eukaryotic gene transcription. She continues to be a leader in the field of histone acetylation and has been able to identify other posttranslational modifications that function together to regulate this histone acetylation. These discoveries include phosphorylation of histone H3 by the Snf1 kinase, as well as histone H2B deubiquitylation by Ubp8. Currently Dr. Berger holds The Hilary Koprowski Endowed Professorship in the Gene Expression and Regulation Program at the Wistar Institute.