Jef Boeke's bio:

Jef Boeke received his Bacfrom the Rockefeller University, where he worked on the genetics of filamentous phage assembly with Peter Model and Norton Zinder. He did his postdoctoral work at MIT on yeast genetics with Gerald Fink. He has been on the faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine since 1986. Dr. Boeke elucidated one of the major forms of DNA movement (transposition) in yeast cells, in which Ty1 elements move via reverse transcription of RNA. He coined the term retotransposition to describe this unusual process. His genetic and biochemical studies have helped elucidate the intricate molecular mechanisms involved in retrotransposition in yeast and human cells. Retrotransposition formed about half of all human DNA and has been a major force in the evolution of the genomes of many organisms. His recent work has suggested that retrotransposition in the intronic or “junk DNA” component of human genes may have profound effects on the expression of those genes and could thus contribute to common genetic diseases. His laboratory has also constructed helor’s degree in Biochemistry from Bowdoin College and a PhD in Molecular Biology highly active synthetic retrotransposons with a wide variety of practical and theoretical uses. In addition to his studies on retrotransposition, Boeke is currently collaborating with information scientists, mathematicians and others in a new High Throughput Biology Center he founded at Johns Hopkins to build and interpret a “wiring diagram” of the cell by analyzing all possible gene-gene interactions encoded in the yeast genome. One of his activities has involved constructing a biorepository of yeast and human and mouse genomics resources for all of Johns Hopkins University. AS part of these efforts he has directed the construction of a highly automated microorganism retrieval system. Jef Boeke has no relevant disclosures.

Jef Boeke's posts:

Automated Retrieval of Viable Microorganism Samples: the Ice Pick

Modern genetics and genomics research increasingly depends on large collections of recombinant microorganisms such as the bacterium Escherichia coli, transformed [MORE]