Charles David Allis

File:C. David Allis.jpg

C. David Allis

Charles David Allis (born March 22, 1951) is an American molecular biologist, and is currently the Joy and Jack Fishman Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Chromatin Biology and Epigenetics at The Rockefeller University. In pursuit of understanding the DNA-histone protein complex and the intricate system which allows for gene activation, the Allis lab focuses on chromatin signaling via histone modifications - acetylation, methylation and phosphorylation. Allis is best known for deciphering regulatory mechanisms that impinge upon the fundamental repeating unit of chromatin and for identifying the responsible enzyme systems that govern the covalent modifications of histone proteins, the principal components that organize chromatin. Allis discovered the critical link, through histone acetyltransferase-containing transcriptional coactivators, between targeted histone acetylation and gene-specific transcriptional activation. In further studies, he linked histone phosphorylation events to mitosis and mitogen action, established a synergy between histone phosphorylation and acetylation events and elaborated the ‘histone code hypothesis’ (and extensions thereof), one of the most highly cited theories governing epigenetics. Implications of this research for human biology and human disease, notably cancer, are far-reaching and continuing at a remarkable pace.

Research Significance

Chromatin is the physiological template of our genome. The packaging of DNA within chromatin, the orderly replication and distribution of chromosomes, the maintenance of genome integrity, and the regulated expression of genes depend upon the highly conserved histone proteins. Despite a longstanding appreciation of the primary structure of histones, various covalent modifications, and speculation about regulatory roles for histones in gene expression, the field was plagued for many years because of poor methods for histone/chromatin isolation, consequent histone/chromatin aggregation, and lack of any clear distinction between a basic uniform (repeating) chromatin structure versus a more heterogeneous array of histone modifications along the genome. It was generally believed that histone proteins were passive participants in packaging DNA into a more manageable form. Before Allis’ work, it was not appreciated that histone proteins might play an active role in dictating meaningful biological responses. No histone-modifying activity was known; thus, there was no reason to anticipate that transcription machinery might possess histone-modifying enzymatic functions.

Education

• University of Cincinnati, B.S., summa cum laude, Biology, 1973
• Indiana University, Ph.D., Biology, 1978, Public Health Service Pre-doctoral Fellow, thesis title: "Isolation and characterization of pole cells and polar granules from Drosophila melanogaster," Dr. Anthony Mahowald, thesis advisor
• University of Rochester, Biology, 1978-1981, National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral fellow, area of study: Cellular and Molecular Biology, Dr. Martin Gorovsky, postdoctoral advisor

Honors & Awards

• B.S., summa cum laude
• Phi Beta Kappa
• 2001: Election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2001: DeWitt Stetten Jr. Award Recipient, sponsored by the Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH
• 2002: Dickson Prize in Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
• 2003: Massry Prize in Chromatin and Transcription (shared with Drs. Michael Grunstein and Roger Kornberg)
• 2004: Wiley Prize for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences
• 2005: Elected to the National Academy of Sciences,
• 2007: Distinguished Alumnus Award, University of Cincinnati
• 2007: Gairdner Foundation International Award
• 2008: ASBMB-Merck Award for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences
• 2011: Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research (shared with Dr. Michael Grunstein), Brandeis University
• 2011: Howard T. Ricketts Prize for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences, University of Chicago
• 2013: Nicholson Award Lecturer at the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
• 2014: Japan Prize
• 2014: Charles-Léopold Mayer Prize of the Académie des Sciences, France
• 2015: Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences

Key Papers (selected from 310)

Histone phosphorylation/kinase-related: disease links

• Cheung, W.L., Ajiro, K., Kloc, M., Cheung P., Mizzen, C.A., Beeser, A., Etkin, L.D., Chernoff, J. and Allis, C.D. (2003) Apoptotic phosphorylation of histone H2B is mediated by mammalian sterile twenty kinase" Cell 16, 507-517 (featured article)

Histone code/theory-related (and extensions thereof)

• Allis, C.D., Jenuwein, T., Reinberg, D. (eds.) and Caparros, M.L. (assoc. ed.) Epigenetics. Cold Spring Harbor laboratory Press. Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 2006

External links

• Allis Lab at The Rockefeller University
• National Academy of Sciences Profile of C. David Allis
• ISI Highly Cited Researchers