Dr. Gratien Prefontaine

Biography

Gratien Prefontaine received his B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Ottawa. His research at the Loeb Health Research Institute characterized the determinants of protein-protein interactions involving homeodomain-containing developmental regulators and nuclear/steroid receptors. Prefontaine demonstrated that interactions leading to cooperative DNA binding events resulted in synergistic gene activation, contributing to gene expression strategies associated with the mouse mammary tumor virus which super-activates proto-oncogenes. His postdoctoral research at the University of California, San Diego focused on creating a visual gene expression system using fluorescent proteins, which involved manipulating bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) to replace target genes with red fluorescent proteins in mouse transgenes. His pioneering work has shown the biological roles of so-called 'junk DNA' and the lysine-specific demethylase (LSD1) in gene activation events. He investigated SmcHD1's regulation of gene expression, exploring genomic localization and its relation to various genetic diseases including facioscapulohumoral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) and Bosma arhinia microphthalmia syndrome. His long-term research objective is to understand the fundamental transcriptional mechanisms determining cell-type specific gene expression programs and the impact of epigenetics on gene control.

Research Interests