Affiliation: Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Role: Associate Editor
Keywords: chromatin structure, nucleosomes, histones, centromeres, kinetochores, hydrogen/deuterium exchange-mass spectrometry
Subject Areas: Gene Expression and Regulation
Biography: Following undergraduate studies at Carleton College, Ben Black did a Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Virginia on pathways for nuclear protein export in the lab of Bryce Paschal. After a four-year postdoctoral fellowship with Don Cleveland at UCSD in the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Ben started his own group at UPenn to continue the work he had started in the area of chromosome biology. Perhaps his best known work as an independent investigator is uncovering the physical basis for how nucleosomes containing the histone variant, CENP-A, epigenetically mark centromere location on the chromosome; and further, for helping elucidate how this nucleosome can seed new centromere assembly and maintain centromere location through a cell cycle-coupled self-propagation mechanism ultimately required to guide faithful chromosome inheritance. He has been recognized for his work with a fellowship from the American Cancer Society, a Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, a Rita Allen Foundation Scholar Award, and the Michael S. Brown New Investigator Award.