Dmitri Papatsenko

Biography

Dr Papatsenko is a biologist with primary interests in developmental and regenerative biology and a background in systems biology/bioinformatics. He holds an MS degree in Biochemistry from Moscow State University (1991) and a PhD from Engelgardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Moscow (1995). He carried out postdoctoral research at Howard Hughes Medical Institute of the Rockefeller University in New York, where he introduced first systems analysis of gene control regions in Drosophila and proposed qualitative models explaining formation of spatial gene expression patterns in early embryo of Drosophila. In 2004, Dr Papatsenko was appointed as an Assistant Researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, in the laboratory of Dr Michael Levine, where he investigated developmental gene networks and proposed an integrated quantitative model for early development of Drosophila embryo. Prior to joining Skoltech, Dr Papatsenko worked at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, as an Assistant Professor. At Mount Sinai Dr Papatsenko worked on reconstruction of gene networks maintaining pluripotency and quantitative modeling of self-renewal in embryonic and hematopoietic stem cells.

Research Interest

 During development and differentiation discrete information encrypted in our genomes turns into body shapes, organs and tissues, giving rise to hundreds of cell types with diverse functions and distinct fates. We are interested in uncovering general principles and molecular mechanisms, which stand behind the development of  human and model organisms.               Major directions of our research include (i) Reconstruction and quantitative modeling of gene networks involved into stem cell renewal and differentiation. (ii) Investigation of gene expression dynamics during reprogramming and differentiation, analysis of variation of gene expression at a single cell resolution. (iii) Exploration of regulatory DNA code, analysis of structure and  function of promoters and enhancers, involved into development and differentiation. Current activity – project description