Stanford Advisors


All Publications


  • BDNF-TRKB SIGNALING REGULATES NEURON-GLIOMA SYNAPTOGENESIS AND PROMOTES TUMOR PROGRESSION Taylor, K., Zhang, H., Hui, A., Gillespie, S., Monje, M. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2020: 468
  • How Support of Early Career Researchers Can Reset Science in the Post-COVID19 World. Cell Gibson, E. M., Bennett, F. C., Gillespie, S. M., Guler, A. D., Gutmann, D. H., Halpern, C. H., Kucenas, S. C., Kushida, C. A., Lemieux, M., Liddelow, S., Macauley, S. L., Li, Q., Quinn, M. A., Roberts, L. W., Saligrama, N., Taylor, K. R., Venkatesh, H. S., Yalcin, B., Zuchero, J. B. 2020

    Abstract

    The COVID19 crisis has magnified the issues plaguing academic science, but it has also provided the scientific establishment with an unprecedented opportunity to reset. Shoring up the foundation of academic science will require a concerted effort between funding agencies, universities, and the public to rethink how we support scientists, with a special emphasis on early career researchers.

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2020.05.045

    View details for PubMedID 32533917

  • The Neural Regulation of Cancer ANNUAL REVIEW OF CANCER BIOLOGY, VOL 4 Gillespie, S., Monje, M., Jacks, T., Sawyers, C. L. 2020; 4: 371–90
  • ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT INTEGRATION OF GLIOMA THROUGH NEURON-GLIOMA SYNAPSES AND POTASSIUM CURRENTS Venkatesh, H., Morishita, W., Geraghty, A., Silverbush, D., Gillespie, S., Arzt, M., Tam, L., Ponnuswami, A., Ni, L., Woo, P., Taylor, K., Agarwal, A., Regev, A., Brang, D., Vogel, H., Hervey-Jumper, S., Bergles, D., Suva, M., Malenka, R., Monje, M. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2019: 251
  • MULTI-MODAL PROFILING OF PEDIATRIC HIGH-GRADE GLIOMA SINGLE CELLS USING PATCH-SEQ Gillespie, S., Arzt, M., Woo, P., Monje, M. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2019: 191
  • Histone Variant and Cell Context Determine H3K27M Reprogramming of the Enhancer Landscape and Oncogenic State. Molecular cell Nagaraja, S., Quezada, M. A., Gillespie, S. M., Arzt, M., Lennon, J. J., Woo, P. J., Hovestadt, V., Kambhampati, M., Filbin, M. G., Suva, M. L., Nazarian, J., Monje, M. 2019

    Abstract

    Development of effective targeted cancer therapies is fundamentally limited by our molecular understanding of disease pathogenesis. Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a fatal malignancy of the childhood pons characterized by a unique substitution to methionine in histone H3 at lysine 27 (H3K27M) that results in globally altered epigenetic marks and oncogenic transcription. Through primary DIPG tumor characterization and isogenic oncohistone expression, we show that the same H3K27M mutation displays distinct modes of oncogenic reprogramming and establishes distinct enhancer architecture depending upon both the variant of histone H3 and the cell context in which the mutation occurs. Compared with non-malignant pediatric pontine tissue, we identify and functionally validate both shared and variant-specific pathophysiology. Altogether, we provide a powerful resource of epigenomic data in 25 primary DIPG samples and 5 rare normal pediatric pontine tissue samples, revealing clinically relevant functional distinctions previously unidentified in DIPG.

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.molcel.2019.08.030

    View details for PubMedID 31588023

  • Electrical and synaptic integration of glioma into neural circuits. Nature Venkatesh, H. S., Morishita, W., Geraghty, A. C., Silverbush, D., Gillespie, S. M., Arzt, M., Tam, L. T., Espenel, C., Ponnuswami, A., Ni, L., Woo, P. J., Taylor, K. R., Agarwal, A., Regev, A., Brang, D., Vogel, H., Hervey-Jumper, S., Bergles, D. E., Suva, M. L., Malenka, R. C., Monje, M. 2019

    Abstract

    High-grade gliomas are lethal brain cancers whose progression is robustly regulated by neuronal activity. Activity-regulated release of growth factors promotes glioma growth, but this alone is insufficient to explain the effect that neuronal activity exerts on glioma progression. Here we show that neuron and glioma interactions include electrochemical communication through bona fide AMPA receptor-dependent neuron-glioma synapses. Neuronal activity also evokes non-synaptic activity-dependent potassium currents that are amplified by gap junction-mediated tumour interconnections, forming an electrically coupled network. Depolarization of glioma membranes assessed by in vivo optogenetics promotes proliferation, whereas pharmacologically or genetically blocking electrochemical signalling inhibits the growth of glioma xenografts and extends mouse survival. Emphasizing the positive feedback mechanisms by which gliomas increase neuronal excitability and thus activity-regulated glioma growth, human intraoperative electrocorticography demonstrates increased cortical excitability in the glioma-infiltrated brain. Together, these findings indicate that synaptic and electrical integration into neural circuits promotes glioma progression.

    View details for DOI 10.1038/s41586-019-1563-y

    View details for PubMedID 31534222

  • ELECTRICAL INTEGRATION OF GLIOMA INTO NEURAL CIRCUITRY Venkatesh, H., Morishita, W., Geraghty, A., Silverbush, D., Arzt, M., Tam, L., Ponnuswami, A., Gillespie, S., Agarwal, A., Regev, A., Vogel, H., Bergles, D., Suva, M., Malenka, R., Monje, M. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2019: 73
  • Therapeutic strategies for diffuse midline glioma from high-throughput combination drug screening. Science translational medicine Lin, G. L., Wilson, K. M., Ceribelli, M. n., Stanton, B. Z., Woo, P. J., Kreimer, S. n., Qin, E. Y., Zhang, X. n., Lennon, J. n., Nagaraja, S. n., Morris, P. J., Quezada, M. n., Gillespie, S. M., Duveau, D. Y., Michalowski, A. M., Shinn, P. n., Guha, R. n., Ferrer, M. n., Klumpp-Thomas, C. n., Michael, S. n., McKnight, C. n., Minhas, P. n., Itkin, Z. n., Raabe, E. H., Chen, L. n., Ghanem, R. n., Geraghty, A. C., Ni, L. n., Andreasson, K. I., Vitanza, N. A., Warren, K. E., Thomas, C. J., Monje, M. n. 2019; 11 (519)

    Abstract

    Diffuse midline gliomas (DMGs) are universally lethal malignancies occurring chiefly during childhood and involving midline structures of the central nervous system, including thalamus, pons, and spinal cord. These molecularly related cancers are characterized by high prevalence of the histone H3K27M mutation. In search of effective therapeutic options, we examined multiple DMG cultures in sequential quantitative high-throughput screens (HTS) of 2706 approved and investigational drugs. This effort generated 19,936 single-agent dose responses that inspired a series of HTS-enabled drug combination assessments encompassing 9195 drug-drug examinations. Top combinations were validated across patient-derived cell cultures representing the major DMG genotypes. In vivo testing in patient-derived xenograft models validated the combination of the multi-histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor panobinostat and the proteasome inhibitor marizomib as a promising therapeutic approach. Transcriptional and metabolomic surveys revealed substantial alterations to key metabolic processes and the cellular unfolded protein response after treatment with panobinostat and marizomib. Mitigation of drug-induced cytotoxicity and basal mitochondrial respiration with exogenous application of nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) or exacerbation of these phenotypes when blocking nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) production via nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT) inhibition demonstrated that metabolic catastrophe drives the combination-induced cytotoxicity. This study provides a comprehensive single-agent and combinatorial drug screen for DMG and identifies concomitant HDAC and proteasome inhibition as a promising therapeutic strategy that underscores underrecognized metabolic vulnerabilities in DMG.

    View details for DOI 10.1126/scitranslmed.aaw0064

    View details for PubMedID 31748226

  • ACTIVE CHROMATIN IN H3K27M DIPG REVEALS DISTINCT EPIGENETIC SUBTYPES AND SUBTYPE-SPECIFIC MECHANISMS OF PATHOGENESIS Nagaraja, S., Quezada, M., Gillespie, S., Geraghty, A., Hovestadt, V., Filbin, M., Suva, M., Nazarian, J., Monje, M. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2018: 59
  • DIFFUSE INTRINSIC PONTINE GLIOMA CELLS ARE INTERCONNECTED BY 'TUMOR MICROTUBES' Gillespie, S., Nagaraja, S., Monje-Deisseroth, M. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2018: 58
  • An Active Role for Neurons in Glioma Progression: Making Sense of Scherer's Structures. Neuro-oncology Gillespie, S., Monje, M. 2018

    Abstract

    Perineuronal satellitosis, the microanatomical clustering of glioma cells around neurons in the tumor microenvironment, has been recognized as a histopathological hallmark of high-grade gliomas since the seminal observations of Scherer in the 1930s. In this review, we explore the emerging understanding that neuron - glioma cell interactions regulate malignancy, and that neuronal activity is a critical determinant of glioma growth and progression. Elucidation of the interplay between normal and malignant neural circuitry is critical to realizing the promise of effective therapies for these seemingly intractable diseases. Here, we review current knowledge regarding the role of neuronal activity in the glioma microenvironment and highlight critical knowledge gaps in this burgeoning research space.

    View details for PubMedID 29788372

  • Decoupling genetics, lineages, and microenvironment in IDH-mutant gliomas by single-cell RNA-seq SCIENCE Venteicher, A. S., Tirosh, I., Hebert, C., Yizhak, K., Neftel, C., Filbin, M. G., Hovestadt, V., Escalante, L. E., Shaw, M. L., Rodman, C., Gillespie, S. M., Dionne, D., Luo, C. C., Ravichandran, H., Mylvaganam, R., Mount, C., Onozato, M. L., Nahed, B. V., Wakimoto, H., Curry, W. T., Iafrate, A. J., Rivera, M. N., Frosch, M. P., Golub, T. R., Brastianos, P. K., Getz, G., Patel, A. P., Monje, M., Cahill, D. P., Rozenblatt-Rosen, O., Louis, D. N., Bernstein, B. E., Regev, A., Suva, M. L. 2017; 355 (6332): 1391-?

    Abstract

    Tumor subclasses differ according to the genotypes and phenotypes of malignant cells as well as the composition of the tumor microenvironment (TME). We dissected these influences in isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutant gliomas by combining 14,226 single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) profiles from 16 patient samples with bulk RNA-seq profiles from 165 patient samples. Differences in bulk profiles between IDH-mutant astrocytoma and oligodendroglioma can be primarily explained by distinct TME and signature genetic events, whereas both tumor types share similar developmental hierarchies and lineages of glial differentiation. As tumor grade increases, we find enhanced proliferation of malignant cells, larger pools of undifferentiated glioma cells, and an increase in macrophage over microglia expression programs in TME. Our work provides a unifying model for IDH-mutant gliomas and a general framework for dissecting the differences among human tumor subclasses.

    View details for DOI 10.1126/science.aai8478

    View details for Web of Science ID 000397809500034

    View details for PubMedID 28360267

  • Targeting neuronal activity-regulated neuroligin-3 dependency in high-grade glioma. Nature Venkatesh, H. S., Tam, L. T., Woo, P. J., Lennon, J. n., Nagaraja, S. n., Gillespie, S. M., Ni, J. n., Duveau, D. Y., Morris, P. J., Zhao, J. J., Thomas, C. J., Monje, M. n. 2017; 549 (7673): 533–37

    Abstract

    High-grade gliomas (HGG) are a devastating group of cancers, and represent the leading cause of brain tumour-related death in both children and adults. Therapies aimed at mechanisms intrinsic to glioma cells have translated to only limited success; effective therapeutic strategies will need also to target elements of the tumour microenvironment that promote glioma progression. Neuronal activity promotes the growth of a range of molecularly and clinically distinct HGG types, including adult and paediatric glioblastoma (GBM), anaplastic oligodendroglioma, and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). An important mechanism that mediates this neural regulation of brain cancer is activity-dependent cleavage and secretion of the synaptic adhesion molecule neuroligin-3 (NLGN3), which promotes glioma proliferation through the PI3K-mTOR pathway. However, the necessity of NLGN3 for glioma growth, the proteolytic mechanism of NLGN3 secretion, and the further molecular consequences of NLGN3 secretion in glioma cells remain unknown. Here we show that HGG growth depends on microenvironmental NLGN3, identify signalling cascades downstream of NLGN3 binding in glioma, and determine a therapeutically targetable mechanism of secretion. Patient-derived orthotopic xenografts of paediatric GBM, DIPG and adult GBM fail to grow in Nlgn3 knockout mice. NLGN3 stimulates several oncogenic pathways, such as early focal adhesion kinase activation upstream of PI3K-mTOR, and induces transcriptional changes that include upregulation of several synapse-related genes in glioma cells. NLGN3 is cleaved from both neurons and oligodendrocyte precursor cells via the ADAM10 sheddase. ADAM10 inhibitors prevent the release of NLGN3 into the tumour microenvironment and robustly block HGG xenograft growth. This work defines a promising strategy for targeting NLGN3 secretion, which could prove transformative for HGG therapy.

    View details for PubMedID 28959975

  • An integrated encyclopedia of DNA elements in the human genome NATURE Dunham, I., Kundaje, A., Aldred, S. F., Collins, P. J., Davis, C., Doyle, F., Epstein, C. B., Frietze, S., Harrow, J., Kaul, R., Khatun, J., Lajoie, B. R., Landt, S. G., Lee, B., Pauli, F., Rosenbloom, K. R., Sabo, P., Safi, A., Sanyal, A., Shoresh, N., Simon, J. M., Song, L., Trinklein, N. D., Altshuler, R. C., Birney, E., Brown, J. B., Cheng, C., Djebali, S., Dong, X., Dunham, I., Ernst, J., Furey, T. S., Gerstein, M., Giardine, B., Greven, M., Hardison, R. C., Harris, R. S., Herrero, J., Hoffman, M. M., Iyer, S., Kellis, M., Khatun, J., Kheradpour, P., Kundaje, A., Lassmann, T., Li, Q., Lin, X., Marinov, G. K., Merkel, A., Mortazavi, A., Parker, S. C., Reddy, T. E., Rozowsky, J., Schlesinger, F., Thurman, R. E., Wang, J., Ward, L. D., Whitfield, T. W., Wilder, S. P., Wu, W., Xi, H. S., Yip, K. Y., Zhuang, J., Bernstein, B. E., Birney, E., Dunham, I., Green, E. D., Gunter, C., Snyder, M., Pazin, M. J., Lowdon, R. F., Dillon, L. A., Adams, L. B., Kelly, C. J., Zhang, J., Wexler, J. R., Green, E. D., Good, P. J., Feingold, E. A., Bernstein, B. E., Birney, E., Crawford, G. E., Dekker, J., Elnitski, L., Farnham, P. J., Gerstein, M., Giddings, M. C., Gingeras, T. R., Green, E. D., Guigo, R., Hardison, R. C., Hubbard, T. J., Kellis, M., Kent, W. J., Lieb, J. D., Margulies, E. H., Myers, R. M., Snyder, M., Stamatoyannopoulos, J. A., Tenenbaum, S. A., Weng, Z., White, K. P., Wold, B., Khatun, J., Yu, Y., Wrobel, J., Risk, B. A., Gunawardena, H. P., Kuiper, H. C., Maier, C. W., Xie, L., Chen, X., Giddings, M. C., Bernstein, B. E., Epstein, C. B., Shoresh, N., Ernst, J., Kheradpour, P., Mikkelsen, T. S., Gillespie, S., Goren, A., Ram, O., Zhang, X., Wang, L., Issner, R., Coyne, M. J., Durham, T., Ku, M., Truong, T., Ward, L. D., Altshuler, R. C., Eaton, M. L., Kellis, M., Djebali, S., Davis, C. A., Merkel, A., Dobin, A., Lassmann, T., Mortazavi, A., Tanzer, A., Lagarde, J., Lin, W., Schlesinger, F., Xue, C., Marinov, G. K., Khatun, J., Williams, B. A., Zaleski, C., Rozowsky, J., Roeder, M., Kokocinski, F., Abdelhamid, R. F., Alioto, T., Antoshechkin, I., Baer, M. T., Batut, P., Bell, I., Bell, K., Chakrabortty, S., Chen, X., Chrast, J., Curado, J., Derrien, T., Drenkow, J., Dumais, E., Dumais, J., Duttagupta, R., Fastuca, M., Fejes-Toth, K., Ferreira, P., Foissac, S., Fullwood, M. J., Gao, H., Gonzalez, D., Gordon, A., Gunawardena, H. P., Howald, C., Jha, S., Johnson, R., Kapranov, P., King, B., Kingswood, C., Li, G., Luo, O. J., Park, E., Preall, J. B., Presaud, K., Ribeca, P., Risk, B. A., Robyr, D., Ruan, X., Sammeth, M., Sandhu, K. S., Schaeffer, L., See, L., Shahab, A., Skancke, J., Suzuki, A. M., Takahashi, H., Tilgner, H., Trout, D., Walters, N., Wang, H., Wrobel, J., Yu, Y., Hayashizaki, Y., Harrow, J., Gerstein, M., Hubbard, T. J., Reymond, A., Antonarakis, S. E., Hannon, G. J., Giddings, M. C., Ruan, Y., Wold, B., Carninci, P., Guigo, R., Gingeras, T. R., Rosenbloom, K. R., Sloan, C. A., Learned, K., Malladi, V. S., Wong, M. C., Barber, G., Cline, M. S., Dreszer, T. R., Heitner, S. G., Karolchik, D., Kent, W. J., Kirkup, V. M., Meyer, L. R., Long, J. C., Maddren, M., Raney, B. J., Furey, T. S., Song, L., Grasfeder, L. L., Giresi, P. G., Lee, B., Battenhouse, A., Sheffield, N. C., Simon, J. M., Showers, K. A., Safi, A., London, D., Bhinge, A. A., Shestak, C., Schaner, M. R., Kim, S. K., Zhang, Z. Z., Mieczkowski, P. A., Mieczkowska, J. O., Liu, Z., McDaniell, R. M., Ni, Y., Rashid, N. U., Kim, M. J., Adar, S., Zhang, Z., Wang, T., Winter, D., Keefe, D., Birney, E., Iyer, V. R., Lieb, J. D., Crawford, G. E., Li, G., Sandhu, K. S., Zheng, M., Wang, P., Luo, O. J., Shahab, A., Fullwood, M. J., Ruan, X., Ruan, Y., Myers, R. M., Pauli, F., Williams, B. A., Gertz, J., Marinov, G. K., Reddy, T. E., Vielmetter, J., Partridge, E. C., Trout, D., Varley, K. E., Gasper, C., Bansal, A., Pepke, S., Jain, P., Amrhein, H., Bowling, K. M., Anaya, M., Cross, M. K., King, B., Muratet, M. A., Antoshechkin, I., Newberry, K. M., McCue, K., Nesmith, A. S., Fisher-Aylor, K. I., Pusey, B., DeSalvo, G., Parker, S. L., Balasubramanian, S., Davis, N. S., Meadows, S. K., Eggleston, T., Gunter, C., Newberry, J. S., Levy, S. E., Absher, D. M., Mortazavi, A., Wong, W. H., Wold, B., Blow, M. J., Visel, A., Pennachio, L. A., Elnitski, L., Margulies, E. H., Parker, S. C., Petrykowska, H. M., Abyzov, A., Aken, B., Barrell, D., Barson, G., Berry, A., Bignell, A., Boychenko, V., Bussotti, G., Chrast, J., Davidson, C., Derrien, T., Despacio-Reyes, G., Diekhans, M., Ezkurdia, I., Frankish, A., Gilbert, J., Gonzalez, J. M., Griffiths, E., Harte, R., Hendrix, D. A., Howald, C., Hunt, T., Jungreis, I., Kay, M., Khurana, E., Kokocinski, F., Leng, J., Lin, M. F., Loveland, J., Lu, Z., Manthravadi, D., Mariotti, M., Mudge, J., Mukherjee, G., Notredame, C., Pei, B., Rodriguez, J. M., Saunders, G., Sboner, A., Searle, S., Sisu, C., Snow, C., Steward, C., Tanzer, A., Tapanari, E., Tress, M. L., van Baren, M. J., Walters, N., Washietl, S., Wilming, L., Zadissa, A., Zhang, Z., Brent, M., Haussler, D., Kellis, M., Valencia, A., Gerstein, M., Reymond, A., Guigo, R., Harrow, J., Hubbard, T. J., Landt, S. G., Frietze, S., Abyzov, A., Addleman, N., Alexander, R. P., Auerbach, R. K., Balasubramanian, S., Bettinger, K., Bhardwaj, N., Boyle, A. P., Cao, A. R., Cayting, P., Charos, A., Cheng, Y., Cheng, C., Eastman, C., Euskirchen, G., Fleming, J. D., Grubert, F., Habegger, L., Hariharan, M., Harmanci, A., Iyengar, S., Jin, V. X., Karczewski, K. J., Kasowski, M., Lacroute, P., Lam, H., Lamarre-Vincent, N., Leng, J., Lian, J., Lindahl-Allen, M., Min, R., Miotto, B., Monahan, H., Moqtaderi, Z., Mu, X. J., O'Geen, H., Ouyang, Z., Patacsil, D., Pei, B., Raha, D., Ramirez, L., Reed, B., Rozowsky, J., Sboner, A., Shi, M., Sisu, C., Slifer, T., Witt, H., Wu, L., Xu, X., Yan, K., Yang, X., Yip, K. Y., Zhang, Z., Struhl, K., Weissman, S. M., Gerstein, M., Farnham, P. J., Snyder, M., Tenenbaum, S. A., Penalva, L. O., Doyle, F., Karmakar, S., Landt, S. G., Bhanvadia, R. R., Choudhury, A., Domanus, M., Ma, L., Moran, J., Patacsil, D., Slifer, T., Victorsen, A., Yang, X., Snyder, M., White, K. P., Auer, T., Centanin, L., Eichenlaub, M., Gruhl, F., Heermann, S., Hoeckendorf, B., Inoue, D., Kellner, T., Kirchmaier, S., Mueller, C., Reinhardt, R., Schertel, L., Schneider, S., Sinn, R., Wittbrodt, B., Wittbrodt, J., Weng, Z., Whitfield, T. W., Wang, J., Collins, P. J., Aldred, S. F., Trinklein, N. D., Partridge, E. C., Myers, R. M., Dekker, J., Jain, G., Lajoie, B. R., Sanyal, A., Balasundaram, G., Bates, D. L., Byron, R., Canfield, T. K., Diegel, M. J., Dunn, D., Ebersol, A. K., Frum, T., Garg, K., Gist, E., Hansen, R. S., Boatman, L., Haugen, E., Humbert, R., Jain, G., Johnson, A. K., Johnson, E. M., Kutyavin, T. V., Lajoie, B. R., Lee, K., Lotakis, D., Maurano, M. T., Neph, S. J., Neri, F. V., Nguyen, E. D., Qu, H., Reynolds, A. P., Roach, V., Rynes, E., Sabo, P., Sanchez, M. E., Sandstrom, R. S., Sanyal, A., Shafer, A. O., Stergachis, A. B., Thomas, S., Thurman, R. E., Vernot, B., Vierstra, J., Vong, S., Wang, H., Weaver, M. A., Yan, Y., Zhang, M., Akey, J. M., Bender, M., Dorschner, M. O., Groudine, M., MacCoss, M. J., Navas, P., Stamatoyannopoulos, G., Kaul, R., Dekker, J., Stamatoyannopoulos, J. A., Dunham, I., Beal, K., Brazma, A., Flicek, P., Herrero, J., Johnson, N., Keefe, D., Lukk, M., Luscombe, N. M., Sobral, D., Vaquerizas, J. M., Wilder, S. P., Batzoglou, S., Sidow, A., Hussami, N., Kyriazopoulou-Panagiotopoulou, S., Libbrecht, M. W., Schaub, M. A., Kundaje, A., Hardison, R. C., Miller, W., Giardine, B., Harris, R. S., Wu, W., Bickel, P. J., Banfai, B., Boley, N. P., Brown, J. B., Huang, H., Li, Q., Li, J. J., Noble, W. S., Bilmes, J. A., Buske, O. J., Hoffman, M. M., Sahu, A. D., Kharchenko, P. V., Park, P. J., Baker, D., Taylor, J., Weng, Z., Iyer, S., Dong, X., Greven, M., Lin, X., Wang, J., Xi, H. S., Zhuang, J., Gerstein, M., Alexander, R. P., Balasubramanian, S., Cheng, C., Harmanci, A., Lochovsky, L., Min, R., Mu, X. J., Rozowsky, J., Yan, K., Yip, K. Y., Birney, E. 2012; 489 (7414): 57-74

    Abstract

    The human genome encodes the blueprint of life, but the function of the vast majority of its nearly three billion bases is unknown. The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project has systematically mapped regions of transcription, transcription factor association, chromatin structure and histone modification. These data enabled us to assign biochemical functions for 80% of the genome, in particular outside of the well-studied protein-coding regions. Many discovered candidate regulatory elements are physically associated with one another and with expressed genes, providing new insights into the mechanisms of gene regulation. The newly identified elements also show a statistical correspondence to sequence variants linked to human disease, and can thereby guide interpretation of this variation. Overall, the project provides new insights into the organization and regulation of our genes and genome, and is an expansive resource of functional annotations for biomedical research.

    View details for DOI 10.1038/nature11247

    View details for Web of Science ID 000308347000039

    View details for PubMedID 22955616

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3439153