Michael J. Shen

Human macroH2A1 drives nucleosome dephasing and genome instability in histone-humanized yeast

This study replaces human variant histones in yeast, showing macroH2A1 disrupts chromatin organization and causes genome instability.

Manipulating the 3D organization of the largest synthetic yeast chromosome

This paper synthesizes the largest eukaryotic yeast chromosome, synIV, and investigates how its 3D structure affects gene regulation and transcription.

Resurrecting essential amino acid biosynthesis in a mammalian cell

This paper demonstrates the successful restoration of valine biosynthesis in mammalian cells by integrating synthetic pathways from E. coli, showing that ancient metabolic pathways can be reactivated in metazoans.

Alternative splicing is a developmental switch for hTERT expression

The paper identifies an alternative splicing mechanism that regulates hTERT expression during development, linking it to telomerase activity and disease.

A multi-reporter bacterial 2-hybrid assay for the fast, simple, and dynamic assay of PDZ domain - peptide interactions

The paper introduces a bacterial 2-hybrid assay for screening PDZ domain-peptide interactions with improved sensitivity and scalability.