Welcome
Welcome to the laboratory of Cynthia Wolberger, located in the Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry. Our research is focused on the structural and mechanistic basis of transcriptional regulation and ubiquitin signaling. We use a combination of cryo-EM, x-ray crystallography, and a variety of biophysical and biochemical approaches to gain insights into the fundamental mechanisms underlying these processes. Please follow the links on this page to learn more about our research and lab members.
Prospective graduate students should visit the web sites of the Program in Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology, the Program in Molecular Biophysics, XDbio, or the Chemistry-Biology Interface Program.
Interested in a postdoctoral position? Please see the Contacts page for information.
Looking for a plasmid? Many of our plasmids are available through Addgene. Click here to see the list of available plasmids.
Recent News
Congratulations to our newest Ph.D., Chad Hicks!
February 29, 2024
Congratulations to Dr. Chad Hicks, who gave his thesis seminar on Feb. 23. We are all very proud of you.
Sanim Rahman awarded an F31 fellowship
March 15, 2023
Congratulations to PMB student, Sanim Rahman, who has received an F31 fellowship from NCI!
Welcome James Fields, new postdoc!
October 9, 2022
We welcome postdoctoral fellow, James Fields, to the Wolberger lab! James did his Ph.D. research with Eric Sundberg at the
Selected Recent Publications
Hicks CW, Rahman S, Gloor SL, Fields JK, Husby NL, Aup Vaidya A, Maier KE, Morgan M, Keogh MC, Wolberger C. (2024) Ubiquitinated histone H2B as gatekeeper of the nucleosome acidic patch. bioRxiv 2024.02.22.581437. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.02.22.581437
Zhao F, Hicks CW, Wolberger C (2023) Mechanism of histone H2B monoubiquitination by Bre1 (2023) Nat Struct Mol Biol. 30(11):1623-1627. doi: 10.1038/s41594-023-01137-x.
Rahman S, Hoffmann NA, Worden EJ, Smith ML, Namitz KEW, Knutson BA, Cosgrove MS, Wolberger C. (2022) Multistate structures of the MLL1-WRAD complex bound to H2B-ubiquitinated nucleosome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 20;119(38):e220569111. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2205691119
Lombardi PM, Haile S, Rusanov T, Rodell R, Anoh R, Baer JG, Burke KA, Gray LN, Hacker AR, Kebreau KR, Ngandu CK, Orland HA, Osei-Asante E, Schmelyun DP, Shorb DE, Syed SH, Veilleux JM, Majumdar A, Mosammaparast N, Wolberger C. (2022) The ASCC2 CUE domain in the ALKBH3-ASCC DNA repair complex recognizes adjacent ubiquitins in K63-linked polyubiquitin. J Biol Chem. 28:101545. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.101545.
Morgan MT, Ikenoue T, Suga H, Wolberger C. (2022) Potent macrocycle inhibitors of the human SAGA deubiquitinating module. Cell Chem Biol 29(4):544-554.e4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2021.12.004
Worden EJ, Zhang X, Wolberger C. (2020) Structural basis for COMPASS recognition of an H2B-ubiquitinated nucleosome. eLife 9. pii: e53199. https://elifesciences.org/articles/53199
Worden EJ, Hoffmann NA, Hicks CW, Wolberger C. (2019) The mechanism of cross-talk between histone H2B ubiquitination and H3 methylation by Dot1L. Cell 176(6):1490-1501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2019.02.002
Nune M, Morgan MT, Connell Z, McCullough L, Jbara M, Sun H, Brik A, Formosa T, Wolberger C. (2019) FACT and Ubp10 collaborate to modulate H2B deubiquitination and nucleosome dynamics. eLife, eLife 8:e40988 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.40988