Dr. Jef Boeke

Biography

Jef D. Boeke is the Judith Bergstein Director of the Institute of System Genetics and a Professor at NYU Langone Health. His research has been at the forefront of understanding the mechanistic genomic aspects of retrotransposition in yeast and mammalian systems for decades. He is heavily involved in developing novel technologies in genetics, genomics, and synthetic biology. His lab utilizes a yeast platform to explore the construction of fully synthetic chromosomes as part of both practical and theoretical studies. Dr. Boeke leads an international consortium called Yeast 2.0, focusing on the complete synthesis and debugging of the entire genome of the eukaryotic organism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with a goal to complete this project by the end of 2025. In 2018, he launched the ambitious “Dark Matter Project” aimed at parsing the functions of non-coding DNA, employing innovative technologies to introduce substantial modifications to select mammalian gene loci. This process begins with assembling synthetic genomic constructs engineered to contain systematic variations, which are then inserted at precise genomic locations in mammalian cells to assess phenotypic effects. Through this approach, his lab aims to engineer genomes to produce extensively humanized mice and other animal models, advancing our understanding of genetic functionality.

Research Interests