Michael Blower, PhD

Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Mike Blower is a Professor of Cell Biology and Biochemistry at the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine at Boston University.

Mike received his B.A. from Miami University (Ohio), his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego under the mentorship of Gary Karpen. He was a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley with Rebecca Heald and Karsten Weis. Following his postdoctoral training he was an Assistant and Associate Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School while managing a research lab in the Department of Molecular Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is the recipient of a Burroughs-Wellcome Fund career Award in the Biomedical Sciences and many different grants from the NIH.

Mike’s current work focuses on the interaction of RNA with chromatin and how these interactions influence chromatin structure and gene expression. Additionally his lab studies the regulation of chromatin:RNA interactions throughout the cell cycle. His lab uses a multidisciplinary approach that integrates, cell biology, in vitro reconstitution, genomics and bioinformatics, and CRISPR genome engineering.

Publications

  • Published 1/14/2026

    Sparago E, Johnston R, Lyons SM, Blower MD. Decreased tRNA abundance contributes to decreased translation elongation rate in a prolonged mitosis. bioRxiv. 2026 Jan 14. PMID: 41648386.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 12/17/2025

    Sharp JA, Thomas R, Sparago E, Wang W, Blower MD. Role of the SAF-A/HNRNPU ATPase and RGG domains in X chromosome inactivation, nuclear dynamics, transcription, splicing, and cell proliferation. bioRxiv. 2025 Dec 17. PMID: 41473319.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 9/17/2025

    Watanabe R, Perea-Resa C, Blower MD. Robust CENP-A incorporation in human cells is independent of transcription and cohesin components. Mol Biol Cell. 2025 Nov 01; 36(11):br30. PMID: 40961235.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 9/2/2025

    Nakos K, Wijeratne S, Blower M, Subramanian R. A minimum module for positioning the Chromosomal Passenger Complex at the cell center for cytokinesis. bioRxiv. 2025 Sep 02. PMID: 40950017.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 6/10/2025

    Sharp JA, Sparago E, Thomas R, Alimenti K, Wang W, Blower MD. Role of the SAF-A/HNRNPU SAP domain in X chromosome inactivation, nuclear dynamics, transcription, splicing, and cell proliferation. PLoS Genet. 2025 Jun; 21(6):e1011719. PMID: 40493679.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 46 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Websites

Education

  • University of California, San Diego, PhD
  • Miami University, BA

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