Dr. Joseph Ecker (Salk)
“Toward an Epigenomic Cell Atlas of the Mammalian Brain”
Background
Dr. Ecker is a molecular biologist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, where he is the International Council Chair in Genetics, Director of the Genomic Analysis Laboratory, and an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His work focuses on epigenomics in plants, mice, and humans, with a focus on the brain for mice and humans.
His lab studies DNA methylation through development, and as part of the BRAIN initiative and is developing a single cell epigenomic cell atlas of the mouse brain.
Previously Dr. Ecker’s lab created the first detailed map of the human epigenome using a method his lab developed called MethylC-Seq. He has served as member of the council of advisors to the National Human Genome Research Institute at the NIH, and the US Department of Energy, and Agriculture, among others. Ecker is member of the US National Academies of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. His work has been recognized with a number of awards including the George W. Beadle Award from the Genetics Society of America and the John J. Carty award for the Advancement of Science from the National Academy of Science.