Charles Gersbach

Charles Gersbach has developed epigenome editing technologies using catalytically dead Cas9 (dCas9) fused to epigenetic effector domains to programmably modify chromatin modifications and DNA methylation at specific genomic loci in cancer cells. His laboratory demonstrated that dCas9-based epigenome editors can reactivate silenced tumor suppressor genes by removing repressive histone marks or DNA methylation at their promoters, providing a therapeutic strategy for reversing epigenetic gene silencing in cancer without permanently altering the DNA sequence. He has shown that multiplexed epigenome editing can simultaneously modulate multiple cancer-relevant genes. His work establishes the foundation for therapeutic epigenome editing approaches in oncology.