Richard Isaac, PhD

Assistant Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Isaac's lab is focusing on the relationship between mitochondrial DNA packaging and expression and understanding the mechanisms that regulate the activity of this genome. Additionally, the lab interested in the structure and regulation of organellar genomes broadly, including those of chloroplasts and apicoplasts. The lab uses an multidisciplinary approach that combines genomics and bioinformatics, in vitro biochemistry, and molecular and cell biology to understand these biological processes.

He obtained his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Dr. Geeta Narlikar at the University of California, San Francisco studying how HP1 proteins play varied roles in heterochromatin establishment and maintenance. He was a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Stirling Churchman at Harvard Medical School, where he developed mtFiber-seq, an approach that maps mitochondrial DNA accessibility across entire genomes at nucleotide resolution.

Publications

  • Published 8/26/2024

    Tullius TW, Isaac RS, Dubocanin D, Ranchalis J, Churchman LS, Stergachis AB. RNA polymerases reshape chromatin architecture and couple transcription on individual fibers. Mol Cell. 2024 Sep 05; 84(17):3209-3222.e5. PMID: 39191261.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/12/2024

    Isaac RS, Tullius TW, Hansen KG, Dubocanin D, Couvillion M, Stergachis AB, Churchman LS. Single-nucleoid architecture reveals heterogeneous packaging of mitochondrial DNA. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2024 Mar; 31(3):568-577. PMID: 38347148.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 12/23/2023

    Tullius TW, Isaac RS, Ranchalis J, Dubocanin D, Churchman LS, Stergachis AB. RNA polymerases reshape chromatin and coordinate transcription on individual fibers. bioRxiv. 2023 Dec 23. PMID: 38187631.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 9/28/2023

    Kramer NJ, Prakash G, Isaac RS, Choquet K, Soto I, Petrova B, Merens HE, Kanarek N, Churchman LS. Regulators of mitonuclear balance link mitochondrial metabolism to mtDNA expression. Nat Cell Biol. 2023 Nov; 25(11):1575-1589. PMID: 37770567.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 3/21/2019

    Isaac RS, Churchman LS. The Long and the Short of the RNA Polymerase C-Terminal Domain and Phase Separation. Mol Cell. 2019 Mar 21; 73(6):1087-1088. PMID: 30901560.

    Read at: PubMed

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