Dr. Gerd Blobel

Biography

Gerd Blobel is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds an MD from Ruprecht-Karls-University in Heidelberg, Germany and a PhD from Rockefeller University in New York. His research interests encompass higher order chromatin structure, gene expression, epigenetics, and globin genes, particularly in the context of sickle cell disease and other therapeutics. He investigates how genetic regulatory elements are spatially organized within the nucleus to influence transcription programs and chromatin architecture. His lab focuses on understanding the regulation of globin gene expression and developing novel approaches to enhance globin gene expression as a means to alleviate sickle cell disease. His work integrates molecular, genomic, and biochemical methods alongside imaging techniques and studies in normal gene-targeted mouse models. Blobel’s contributions bridge basic science and pre-clinical studies, emphasizing the significant impact of chromatin organization on lineage identity and cell cycle regulation.

Research Interests