Faculty Summaries Alexei V. Tulin, PhD Alexei V. Tulin, PhD
Associate Professor Office Phone: 215-728-7408 Office: R362 Role
of Poly(ADP-ribose)Polymerase in Chromatin Programming and
Transcription  Developmentally regulated gene expression in
multicellular eukaryotes requires the formation of dynamic
tissue-specific chromatin structures that participate in
activating certain genes and silencing others (Wolffe, Essays
Biochem. 37:45, 2001). Furthermore, during an organism’s
lifetime the established pattern of chromatin needs to be
quickly reprogrammed in a response to environmental or hormonal
signals (Thummel, Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 32:113, 2002). It
has become increasingly clear that key aspects of chromatin
structure and gene transcriptional activity are determined by a
specific modification of histones (Elgin and Workman, Curr Opin
Genet Dev. 12: 127, 2002; Fischle et al., Nature. 425:475,
2003).  Despite this exciting progress there remains much to be
learned about how chromatin is programmed and how