Sharon Torigoe

BA 2007 Scripps College - Honors in Biology & Chemistry

PhD 2013 University of California at San Diego

In a single human individual, there are thousands, perhaps even millions, of different types of cells, which contribute to the vast variety of functions that must be performed in the body.  However, each of these cells is genetically identical, having arisen from one single cell.  As I once asked years ago, “If every cell in a person has the same genetic information, then how do we get all these different body parts?”

The simple answer is regulation of gene expression, but there are many ways to do so.  I am particularly interested in how gene regulation is encoded into the genome itself.  Specifically, what are the genomic sequences that contribute to cell-type specific transcription, and how are these sequences “read” by proteins?  I am currently focused on teasing apart the regulation of several key genes in mouse embryonic stem cells.