Prof Adrian Bracken

Chromatin biologist, Trinity University, Dublin, Ireland

Adrian Bracken is a chromatin biologist. He was elected as an EMBO Member for outstanding achievement in the life sciences. His lab has made several seminal contributions to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of how Polycomb group proteins regulate cell-fate decisions in stem cells and in cancer. For example, in 2018 his lab discovered a new family of vertebrate specific Polycomb group proteins, called PALI1 and PALI2. In 2019, they explored how different Polycomb Repressive complexes (PRC2.1 and PRC2.2) interplay to direct deposition of the H3K27me3 epigenetic modification. More recently, the lab reported their discovery of JARID2 dependent mechanisms of recruitment for specific canonical PRC1 subtypes containing CBX7. His lab is also studying an incurable childhood cancer called ‘H3-K27M-mutant diffuse midline glioma’ and demonstrated how EZH2 and CBX4 act as specific genetic dependencies and represent promising therapeutic candidates.