Epigenetics Keynote Speakers

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.
Christopher Schofield Professor, University of Oxford Chris Schofield studied for a first degree in chemistry at the University of Manchester (1979-1982). In 1982 he moved to Oxford to study for a DPhil with Professor Jack Baldwin. In 1985 he became a Departmental Demonstrator in the Dyson Perrins Laboratory, Oxford University followed by his appointment as Lecturer in Chemistry and Fellow of Hertford College in 1990. In 1998 he became Professor of Chemistry, and in 2011 was appointed Head of Organic Chemistry. Chris is an international-leader in functional, structural and mechanistic studies on enzymes employing oxygen and 2-oxoglutarate co-substrates. His work has opened up new fields in antibiotic research, oxygen sensing and gene regulation. After groundbreaking work on plant and microbial oxygenases, he pioneered structurally informed functional assignments for uncharacterised human oxygenases. His research has identified unanticipated roles for oxygenases in regulating gene expression, importantly in the cellular hypoxic response, and has revealed new post-translational modifications to chromatin and RNA splicing proteins. The work has identified new opportunities for medicinal intervention that are being pursued by numerous academic and commercial laboratories.