The lab’s values extend beyond rigorous and open science. The lab also believes that love is love, Black lives matter, feminism is for everyone, disability is natural, veterans are valued, immigrants are welcome, and neurodiversity is embraced and respected. Our research has benefitted greatly from the diversity of backgrounds of all lab members over the years. We recognize that systemic barriers are in place that discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, background, gender identity, disability, and other factors that continue to prevent individuals from fully participating in science. These hurdles, throughout academia and beyond, artificially minimize the contributions of some, while inflating the credit applied to others. We acknowledge that culture and policy are challenging issues to address, precisely because those who benefit from the status quo are often in power. The lab will continue to strive to improve the environment in which we perform research and pursue education.

The lab uses molecular biology, systems biology, and genomics to study transcription regulation. Precise regulation of transcription is central to cellular homeostasis and an organism’s response to developmental, nutritional, and environmental signals. Transcription factors bind to DNA to directly regulate gene expression and control cell fate. My lab develops and adopts molecular genomics approaches to study regulatory cascades initiated by hormone signaling. Our current work focuses on the basic mechanisms of estrogen signaling in breast cancer and how signaling cascades are disrupted upon drug treatment. We also use integrative genomics approaches to study adipogenesis. A long-term goal of my group is to identify transcription factors that are responsible for hormone-resistant phenotypes in disease states.

Research

The lab employs molecular genomics techniques to study transcription factors and the mechanisms by which they bind to chromatin and regulate transcription. Our focus has expanded to study the roles of transcription factors in homeostasis, differentiation, and disease states. 

Publications

All the lab’s publications are publicly available and links to publications and analysis vignettes will soon be available under the Publications and Analysis Vignettes tabs. For now, you can access all publications through Google Scholar.

Software

All the lab’s software is available through our guertinlab GitHub page and analysis vignettes are available here.

The Guertin Lab is a part of the Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling and Genetics and Genome Sciences Department at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.