David Levens
Laboratory of Pathology, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
Dr. David Levens received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Subsequently, he completed residency training in anatomic pathology at the Laboratory of Pathology, NCI, where he is now the chief of the Gene Regulation Section. He studies fundamental mechanisms of gene regulation, emphasizing the control of MYC function and expression. He and his team showed that MYC is a universal amplifier of gene expression. This explains much of MYC physiology and pathology, and also defines the needs to control MYC levels precisely in real time. Additionally, the Levens Lab has shown that the torque generated during the transcription of MYC modifies DNA structure dynamically at the FUSE element, and that together with FUSE Binding Protein and FBP Interacting Repressor, it serves as a molecular cruise control for MYC. He is exploring the genome-wide utilization of supercoiled-driven changes in DNA to regulate genes in health and disease.
