Joyce Ohm, Ph.D.

Education

• Ph.D. Cancer Biology, 2003; Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
• B.S. Biology/Chemistry, 1996; Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI

Postdoctoral Fellowships

• 03/2003-09/2003 The Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, Department of Cancer Biology, Vanderbilt University Medical School, Advisor: David P. Carbone, M.D., Ph.D.
• 10/2003-06/2009  The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Department of Oncology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Advisor: Stephen B. Baylin, M.

Research Interests

Dr. Ohm investigates abnormal epigenetic silencing events in the initiation of human cancers, particularly the role that stem cell pluripotency genes and stem cell signaling pathways play during the formation of a tumor initiating cell. She has shown that unique chromatin patterns found in stem cells may render a tumor suppressor gene particularly vulnerable to silencing by DNA hypermethylation in cancer. She has also shown that the process of induced reprogramming of somatic cells to an embryonic fate results in the induction of an extensive program of silencing via DNA hypermethylation. This research has implications for the use of epigenetic modifying drugs as adjuvant cancer therapy and for the regenerative medicine field, as reprogrammed somatic cells are employed for a variety of regenerative medicine purposes.

Recent Publications

Xie L, Weichel B, Ohm JE*, Zhang K*. An integrative analysis of DNA methylation and RNA-Seq data for human heart, kidney and liver. *Corresponding author. Manuscript in press.

Mali P, Chou BK, Yen J, Ye Z, Zou J, Dowey S, Brodsky RA, Ohm JE, Yu W, Baylin SB, Yusa K, Bradley A, Meyers DJ, Mukherjee C, Cole PA, Cheng L. Butyrate greatly enhances derivation of human induced pluripotent stem cells by promoting epigenetic remodeling and the expression of pluripotency-associated genes. Stem Cells. 2010 Apr;28(4):713-20.

Ohm JE, Mali P, Van Neste L, Berman DM, Liang L, Pandiyan K, Briggs KJ, Zhang W, Argani P, Simons B, Yu W, Matsui W, Van Criekinge W, Rassool FV, Zambidis E, Schuebel KE, Cope L, Yen J, Mohammad HP, Cheng L, Baylin SB. Cancer-related epigenome changes associated with reprogramming to induced pluripotent stem cells. Cancer Res. 2010 Oct 1;70(19):7662-73.

Mohammad HP, Cai Y, McGarvey KM, Easwaran H, Van Neste L, Ohm JE, O'Hagan HM, Baylin SB. Polycomb CBX7 promotes initiation of heritable repression of genes frequently silenced with cancer-specific DNA hypermethylation. Cancer Res. 2009 Aug 1;69(15):6322-30. Epub 2009 Jul 14.