John Abrams, Ph.D. Professor School Medical School Department Cell Biology Graduate Programs Cancer Biology, Genetics, Development and Disease Biography John Abrams graduated from Cornell University in 1982 and received a National Science Foundation Fellowship for graduate work at Stanford University the following year. Under the mentorship of Dr. Robert Schimke, he analyzed the regulation, amplification and mutagenesis of transfected genes, receiving a PhD. in 1989. Later that year, Dr. Abrams moved to MIT as an American Cancer Society fellow, where he joined the lab of Hermann Steller and launched molecular studies on programmed cell death. Using the Drosophila model, he uncovered the first global cell death defective mutation in this animal and later he identified the gene ’reaper’ as the relevant locus encoding the predicted apoptotic function. Small molecules that simulate the activity encoded by this gene are now attracting widespread attention as promising anti-cancer drugs. In 1994, Dr. Abrams joined the faculty at UT Southwestern, where he continues research on the molecular physiology of cell death. In related efforts, his group is exploring biological links between tumor suppressor genes commonly mutated in human cancers and mobile genetic elements. Dr. Abrams received the Research Scholar award from the American Cancer Society and the Senior Scholar award from the Ellison Medical Foundation. He is currently a Professor in the department of Cell Biology. Education Undergraduate Cornell University (1982), Biology Graduate School Stanford University (1989), Molecular & Cell Biology Research Interest Chromatin Assembly, 3D Genome Organization and Gene Regulation Mobile Genetic Elements, Transposons Programmed Cell Death; Apoptosis Tumor Suppressor genes, Tumor Protein p53 Publications Featured Publications Distinct p53 isoforms code for opposing transcriptional outcomes. Wylie A, Jones AE, Das S, Lu WJ, Abrams JM, Dev Cell 2022 Jul p53 directly represses human LINE1 transposons. Tiwari B, Jones AE, Caillet CJ, Das S, Royer SK, Abrams JM, Genes Dev 2020 Oct Transposons, p53 and Genome Security. Tiwari B, Jones AE, Abrams JM Trends Genet. 2018 Sep Retrotransposons Mimic Germ Plasm Determinants to Promote Transgenerational Inheritance. Tiwari B, Kurtz P, Jones AE, Wylie A, Amatruda JF, Boggupalli DP, Gonsalvez GB, Abrams JM Curr. Biol. 2017 Oct 27 19 3010-3016.e3 A platform for interrogating cancer-associated p53 alleles. D'Brot A, Kurtz P, Regan E, Jakubowski B, Abrams JM Oncogene 2016 Dec p53 in the game of transposons. Wylie A, Jones AE, Abrams JM Bioessays 2016 Sep A platform for interrogating cancer-associated p53 alleles. D'Brot A, Kurtz P, Regan E, Jakubowski B, Abrams JM Oncogene 2016 Mar p53 genes function to restrain mobile elements. Wylie A, Jones AE, D'Brot A, Lu WJ, Kurtz P, Moran JV, Rakheja D, Chen KS, Hammer RE, Comerford SA, Amatruda JF, Abrams JM Genes Dev. 2015 Dec p53 activity is selectively licensed in the Drosophila stem cell compartment. Wylie A, Lu WJ, D'Brot A, Buszczak M, Abrams JM Elife 2014 3 e01530 A p53 enhancer region regulates target genes through chromatin conformations in cis and in trans. Link N, Kurtz P, O'Neal M, Garcia-Hughes G, Abrams JM Genes Dev. 2013 Nov 27 22 2433-8 Results 1-10 of 22 1 2 3 Next Last Honors & Awards Ellison Medical FoundationSenior Scholar (2011) American Cancer SocietyResearch Scholar (2001) Howard Hughes Medical InstitutePostdoctoral Fellowship (1992) American Cancer SocietyPostdoctoral Fellowsip (1989) National Science FoundationGraduate Fellowship (1983) Professional Associations/Affiliations American Association for Cancer Research, Genetics Society of America American Association for the Advancement of Science BioMedcentral Faculty of 1000 reviewer, F1000 Faculty member Editorial Board: Apoptosis. Rapid Science Publishers. Editorial Board: Cell Death & Differentiation. Nature Publishing Group
