Jeannie T. Lee is a Professor of Genetics (and Pathology) at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

and the Massachusetts General Hospital, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. She is known for her work on

X-chromosome inactivation X-inactivation (also called Lyonization, after English geneticist Mary Lyon) is a process by which one of the copies of the X chromosome is inactivated in therian female mammals. The inactive X chromosome is silenced by being packaged into ...

and for discovering the functions of a new class of epigenetic regulators known as long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), including Xist and Tsix.

Education

Jeannie T. Lee received an AB from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and an MD/PhD in 1993 from the

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine The Perelman School of Medicine, commonly known as Penn Med, is the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of Medicine is the oldest medi ...

. While at Harvard she worked with

Nancy Kleckner Nancy Kleckner is the Herchel Smith Professor of Molecular Biology at Harvard University and principal investigator at the Kleckner Laboratory at Harvard University. Education Nancy Kleckner worked with Matt Meselson as an undergraduate at Ha ...

on antisense regulation of Tn10 transposition. While at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine her advisor was Robert L. Nussbaum. Her PhD research focused on Fragile X syndrome, and led to her strong interest in

X chromosome inactivation X-inactivation (also called Lyonization, after English geneticist Mary Lyon) is a process by which one of the copies of the X chromosome is inactivated in therian female mammals. The inactive X chromosome is silenced by being packaged into a ...

and

epigenetics In biology, epigenetics is the study of stable phenotypic changes (known as ''marks'') that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix '' epi-'' ( "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are ...

. Then she did postdoctoral work with

Rudolf Jaenisch Rudolf Jaenisch (born April 22, 1942) is a Professor of Biology at MIT and a founding member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. He is a pioneer of transgenic science, in which an animal’s genetic makeup is altered. Jaenisch ...

at the

Whitehead Institute Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a non-profit research institute located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States that is dedicated to improving human health through basic biomedical research. It was founded as a fiscally indepen ...

, during which she discovered the nature of the X-inactivation center. She was also Chief Resident of Laboratory Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Research career

Lee joined the faculty at Harvard in 1997 and devoted her studies to noncoding RNA and sex chromosome dynamics during development and disease. Her major career research achievements include identifying the X inactivation center, discovering Tsix antisense RNA, determining Xist's mechanism of action, demonstrating that a lncRNA is a regulator of Polycomb repressive complex 2, and determining that the X chromosome folds like origami and adopts a unique conformation. Her studies established the existence and function of a group of lncRNAs. In a 2013 interview, she stated that this group of RNAs excited her because they control gene expression in a locus-specific way, by recruiting chromatin modifying activities to the locus, making the lncRNAs excellent drug design targets. She founded RaNA Therapeutics to test this idea. Upon conferring the Lurie Prize to Lee in 2016, Dr. Charles A. Sanders of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health remarked: “Dr. Lee’s work has revolutionized the field of epigenetics. Her research has led to groundbreaking contributions, and we now have a better understanding of the unique role that long non-coding RNAs play in gene expression, which could lead to the development of new therapeutics.” Lee was President of the Genetics Society of America, Codirector of the Harvard Epigenetics Initiative, and is Vice Chair of the Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She delivered a set of lectures t
iBiology
on X chromosome inactivation.

Notable publications

* Polycomb proteins targeted by a short repeat RNA to the mouse X chromosome. J Zhao, BK Sun, JA Erwin, JJ Song, JT Lee. Science, 2008 * Long noncoding RNAs: past, present, and future. JTY Kung, D Colognori, JT Lee. Genetics, 2013 * Epigenetic regulation by long noncoding RNAs. JT Lee. Science, 2012 * Genome-wide identification of polycomb-associated RNAs by RIP-seq. J Zhao, T Ohsumi, ... JT Lee. Molecular Cell, 2010 * YY1 tethers Xist RNA to the inactive X nucleation center. Y Jeon, JT Lee. Cell, 2011 * Transient homologous chromosome pairing marks the onset of X inactivation. N Xu, CL Tsai, JT Lee. Science, 2006 * ''Tsix'', a gene antisense to ''Xist'' at the X-inactivation centre. JT Lee, LS Davidow, D Warshawsky. Nature Genetics, 1999 * A 450 kb transgene displays properties of the mammalian X-inactivation center. JT Lee, WM Strauss, JA Dausman, R Jaenisch. Cell, 1996

Awards

* 1998 Basil O'Connor Scholar Award * 2000 Pew Scholar * 2010 Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) * 2010 Molecular Biology Award from the National Academy of Sciences * 2011

NIH MERIT Award The NIH MERIT award (Method To Extend Research in Time) Award (R37) was created by the National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary age ...

* 2014 Distinguished Graduate Award of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine * 2015 Elected member of the National Academy of Sciences * 2016 Centennial Award from ''GENETICS'', Genetics Society of America * 2016

Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences The Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences recognizes outstanding achievement by a promising young scientist in biomedical research. It is awarded annually by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. Established in 2013 the award is wo ...

from the

Foundation for the National Institutes of Health The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) charitable organization established by the US Congress in 1990. Located in North Bethesda, MD, the FNIH raises private-sector funds, and creates and manage ...

*2018 Harrington Rare Genetic Disease Scholar

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Jeannie T. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Harvard Medical School faculty Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni American geneticists Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Harvard University alumni American women biologists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Cell biologists American women academics 21st-century American women