2016 Scientific Report

PETER A. JONES, PH.D., D.SC.
Dr. Jones received his Ph.D. from the University of London. He
joined the University of Southern California in 1977 and served as
director of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center between
1993 and 2011. Dr. Jones joined VARI in 2014 as its Chief Scientific
Officer and Director of the Center for Epigenetics.
STAFF
MINMIN LIU, PH.D.
HITOSHI OTANI, PH.D.
ROCHELE TIEDEMANN, PH.D.
WANDING ZHOU, PH.D.
ADJUNCT FACULTY
RONALD CHANDLER, JR., PH.D.
FEYRUZ RASSOOL, PH.D.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Epigenetics may be defined as mitotically heritable changes in gene expression that
are not caused by changes in the DNA sequence itself. Epigenetic processes establish
the differentiated state of cells and govern how genes are used to allow organs and
cells to function correctly and inherit their properties through cell division. In the case
of diseases such as cancer, these processes can go wrong, changing the behavior of
cells to adverse effect. However, many of these changes are potentially reversible by
treatment with drugs. Because epigenetic processes are at the root of biology, they
have implications for all of human development and disease.
Our laboratory studies the mechanisms by which epigenetic processes become
misregulated in cancer and contribute to the disease phenotype. We focus on the role
of DNA methylation in controlling the expression of genes during normal development
and in cancer. Our work has shifted to a holistic approach in which we are interested in
the interactions between processes such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and
nucleosomal positioning in the epigenome, and we want to determine how mutations
in the genes which modify the epigenome contribute to the cancer phenotype. We
have had a long-term interest in the mechanism of action of DNA methylation inhibitors,
both in the lab and in the clinic. We are working with several major institutions to bring
epigenetic therapies to the forefront of cancer medicine.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Lay, Fides D., Yaping Liu, Theresa K. Kelly, Heather Witt, Peggy J. Farnham, Peter A. Jones, and Benjamin P. Berman. 2015.
The role of DNA methylation in directing the functional organization of the cancer epigenome. Genome Research 25(4): 467–477.
Roulois, David, Helen Loo Yau, Rajat Singhania, Yadong Wang, Amavaz Danesh, Shu Yi Shen, Han Han, Gangning Liang, Peter
A. Jones, et al. 2015. DNA-demethylating agents target colorectal cancer cells by inducing viral mimicry by endogenous
transcripts. Cell 162(5): 961–973.
Statham, Aaron L., Phillippa C. Taberlay, Theresa K. Kelly, Peter A. Jones, and Susan J. Clark. 2015. Genome-wide nucleosome
occupancy and DNA methylation profiling of four human cell lines. Genomics Data 3: 94–96.
CENTER FOR EPIGENETICS 33