Berman Lab

Research in the Berman Laboratory, led by Benjamin Berman, PhD, focuses on understanding the basic logic of noncoding regulatory sequences and how the sequences control the local and 3-D (topological) structure of chromatin to control transcription. Berman’s past work has demonstrated that functional noncoding elements could be identified genome-wide based on sequence properties alone, and he has published the first complete DNA methylation map of a human cancer, showing that methylation alone could be used to identify noncoding regulatory elements and understand the 3-D topological organization of chromosomes in clinical human tissues. The Berman Lab is now developing new approaches for studying complex tissues at the single-cell level. These projects will allow an understanding of how individual noncoding mutations within an individual can drive disease processes. Berman is dedicated to making these computational methods available via open standards to support adoption throughout the research community.

The Berman Laboratory is affiliated with the Cedars-Sinai Department of Biomedical Sciences and Center for Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics.