Charlotte B. Failing Professor (also with Obstetrics and
Gynecology and the Institute for Scientific Computing); Ph.D.,
Toronto, 1983. Gene therapy; control of development and
differentiation; expression of connective tissue genes and
genes controlling spermatogenesis; computer-assisted sequence
analysis.
Research Interests
The human and mouse protamine gene clusters are of great interest as they are responsible for the repackaging of the male gamete's genome. We have directed our studies toward understanding how these gene loci are specifically selected for expression.
Understanding the role of chromatin structure and how associations with the nuclear matrix, are involved in the expression of the protamine cluster is fundamental to understanding gene regulation and is a key element that will bring gene therapy from the bench to the bedside.
Transcriptionally silent RNA populations exist within mature human spermatozoa. We are attempting to determine the role for these RNA in sperm. Our studies are examining potential applications in clinical fertility diagnostics as well as the re-examination of the male gamete's role in reproduction.
We currently use microarrays and a number of "home grown" in silico bioinformatics analysis methods to examine gene expression and chromatin structure.
Selected Publications
McCarrey, J.R.,
Watson, C., Atencio, J., Ostermeier, G.C., Marahrens,
Y., Jaenisch, R., and Krawetz, S.A. (2002) X-chromosome
inactivation during spermatogenesis is
regulated by an Xist/Tsix-independent
mechanism in the mouse. Genesis. 34:257-266. [PubMed]
van Biljon, W.,
Wykes, M., Scherer, S., Krawetz, S.A. and Hapgood J. (2002)
Type II gonadotropin-releasing hormone-receptor transcripts in
human sperm. Biology of Reproduction.
67:1741-1749. [PubMed]
Ostermeier, G.C.,
Dix, D.J., Miller, D., Khatri, P. and Krawetz, S.A.
(2002) Spermatozoal RNA profiles of normal fertile men. The
Lancet. 360:773-777. [PubMed]
Draghici, S.,
Khatri, P., Martins, R.P., Ostermeier, G.C., and Krawetz,
S.A. (2003) Global functional profiling
of gene expression. Genomics. 81:98-104. [PubMed]
Ostermeier, G.C.,
Liu, Z., Martins, R.P., Bharadwaj R.R., Ellis J., Draghici,
S.,and Krawetz, S.A. (2003)
Nuclear matrix association of the human beta-globin locus
utilizing a novel approach to quantitative real-time PCR.
Nucleic Acids Research. 31:3257-3266. [PubMed]
Search Pubmed:
Krawetz
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