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Contact Information

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
4331 MBRB
CB#7032
(O) 919-843-4578

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Assistant Professor
Dept. of Genetics
School of Medicine
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Research Summary 

Adam Gracz investigates how chromatin regulation contributes to homeostasis, regeneration, and disease in adult gastrointestinal stem cells. The current research objective of his lab is to delineate the regulatory nature of chromatin dynamics in intestinal stem cells (ISCs). His pre- and postdoctoral training focused on the development of novel tools for ISC biology, as well as applying these tools to mechanistic studies of transcriptional regulation in ISCs. He has contributed to research at the forefront of ISC identification, isolation, and manipulation in vitro. This work has resulted in transgenic and cell surface markers of mouse and human ISCs, culture conditions for active and reserve human ISCs, a high-throughput platform facilitating functional and genetic manipulation of single ISCs and organoids for downstream analysis, and the identification of the first secretory transcription factor capable of driving intestinal differentiation in the absence of Atoh1. He is an early stage investigator who draws on his established strengths to pursue novel and independent questions in ISC genomics and biliary epithelial cell biology.

Relevance of Research to CGIBD Mission:  The questions asked by Dr. Gracz are fundamental to our basic understanding of GI and biliary epithelia. He has been a major beneficiary of the CGIBD.  He was supported by our T32 in basic GI. He received a pilot/feasibility grantin 2015 from the Center. He takes advantage of the Advanced Analytics and the Biostatistics and Clinical Research Cores.

CGIBD Focus Area(s):  Regenerative Medicine/Repair

Pilot and Feasibility Award 2016

Collaborators:  Magness, Allbritton, Galanko