Robert-Jan Palstra

Background

About Robert-Jan Palstra

I obtained my BSc in 1995 from the Hogeschool Rotterdam en Omstreken. After several years of research abroad (Switzerland, Ethiopia and The United Kingdom) I moved to the lab of Prof. Frank Grosveld (Erasmus MC, department of Cell biology). Here I obtained my PhD studying the spatial organization of the beta-globin locus under supervision of Dr. Wouter de Laat. The spatial organisation of the beta-globin locus was investigated using novel 3C technology and it was demonstrated that transcription factors can play an essential role in the three-dimensional organisation of gene loci. These were the first studies elucidating the spatial organisation of a mammalian gene locus, thereby demonstrating how cis-regulatory elements communicate with genes. After my PhD I continued to study long-range gene regulation at the Erasmus MC department of Cell biology. In 2007 I received a VENI grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) to study the molecular basis of long-range beta-globin expression. After this I moved to the department of Forensic Molecular Biology to study the role of non-coding DNA variation in long-range gene activation in melanocyte biology and melanoma. Recently I have been studying the molecular control of reactivation of the latent HIV provirus at the Molecular Virology group in the department of Biochemistry. My current research interests include: 1. Fundamental mechanisms of enhancer action and chromatin loop formation. The role of non-coding DNA variation in long-range gene activation and it relation to phenotypic diversity and disease susceptibility.