{"id":4848,"date":"2015-11-06T14:39:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-06T19:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/directory\/dowen\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T13:46:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T17:46:26","slug":"dowen","status":"publish","type":"directory","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/directory\/dowen\/","title":{"rendered":"Jill Dowen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"text-align: center\"><em><strong><span class=\"blue\">Associate Professor of Biochemistry &amp; Biophysics<br \/>\n<\/span><\/strong><\/em> Joint Appointment in Biology<br \/>\nMember, Integrative Prog for Biological &amp; Genome Sciences<br \/>\nMember, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center<\/span><\/span><span class=\"discreet\"><br \/>\n(PhD &#8211; University of California San Diego)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\" \" style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"color: #333333\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-10603\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2019\/08\/Faculty-OGE-Trained-mentor-badge-400dpi-for-website-150x150.png\" alt=\"Trained Faculty Mentor endorsed by Office of Graduate Ed UNC Chapel Hill\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2019\/08\/Faculty-OGE-Trained-mentor-badge-400dpi-for-website-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2019\/08\/Faculty-OGE-Trained-mentor-badge-400dpi-for-website-64x64.png 64w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>Trained in Mental Health First Aid &amp; other courses<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color: transparent;color: #007fae;font-size: 24px\">HONORS &amp; AWARDS<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: 1.43em\"><span style=\"line-height: 1.43em\">NIH Maximizing Investigators&#8217; Research Award (MIRA), National Institute of General Medical Sciences, 2017<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: 1.43em\"><span style=\"line-height: 1.43em\">Kimmel Scholar, Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research, 2016 <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: 1.43em\">Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National Cancer Institute, 2012-2015<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: 1.43em\">Whitehead Institute Postdoctoral Association Education Award, 2012<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: 1.43em\">International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Travel Award, 2012<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"blue\">RESEARCH<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The folding pattern of the genome plays an important role in gene regulation. Recent technological advancements have allowed for mapping of genome organization at high resolution. However, these maps are just the first step toward understanding how the looping of DNA in three-dimensional space controls gene regulation during development and disease.<\/p>\n<p>Our laboratory is investigating the function of DNA loops involving genes and their transcriptional regulatory elements. A major question is how a specific regulatory element finds its correct target gene and is prevented from acting on thousands of other genes in the genome. To answer this question we combine genomic approaches (ChIP-Seq, ChIA-PET) and genome editing tools (CRISPR) to study the epigenetic mechanisms by which transcriptional regulatory elements control gene expression in embryonic stem cells. Our current research efforts are divided into 3 areas: 1) Characterizing the folding pattern of the genome 2) Dynamics of three-dimensional genome organization as embryonic stem cells differentiate into other cell types and 3) Functional analysis of altered chromosome structure in cancer and developmental disorders.<\/p>\n<h3>NEWS<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/news\/spotlight-on-research-in-jill-dowens-lab\/\">Spotlight on research in Jill Dowen\u2019s lab<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/?s=jill+dowen&amp;search-btn=Search&amp;search_type=wp\">more news<\/a> here<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"blue\">PUBLICATIONS<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h3>\n<p data-wp-editing=\"1\">\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/?term=jill+dowen&amp;sort=date&amp;size=100\">link to all publications for Jill Dowen<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><!-- description --> <\/p>\n<p class='lead'>Research: Three-dimensional genome organization and gene expression in stem cells and cancer cells<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4849,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-4848","directory","type-directory","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jill Dowen | Biochemistry and Biophysics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/directory\/dowen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jill Dowen | Biochemistry and Biophysics\" \/>\n<meta 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