Peter Jones's Biography

Peter Jones, Director, University of Southern California

Peter Jones was born in South Africa, raised and attended school in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and received his Ph.D. from the University of London in 1973. He is currently Director of the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Distinguished Professor of Urology and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, at the Keck School of Medicine USC. He is known for his studies on the molecular biology of cancer and of basic mechanisms of DNA methylation and its role in cancer and differentiation. His laboratory discovered the effects of 5-azacytidine on DNA methylation and linked this process to the activation of silenced genes.