Professor, Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University

Research
Alternative Splicing Generates Transcriptomic Diversity in Genetic Disorders & Cancer

By utilizing the unique strengths of our research group in bioinformatic analyses as well as in genomic and advanced molecular biology methodologies, we are able to make groundbreaking discoveries in the field of alternative splicing. We study how alternative splicing generates higher level of organism complexity, especially in human. However, this comes with a price, and alternative splicing also inflicts many genetic disorders and cancer.

Our research involves these two facets of alternative splicing. On one hand, we found how new functions evolved via the generation of new exons (mostly in human). We have also showed how different layers of gene expression affect each other, and found that chromatin organization and epigenetic markers (DNA methylation) mark the exon-intron structure. We also found that during the evolution of warm-blooded organisms two exon-intron gene architectures developed, and these also reflect the different effects of mutations on splicing in cancer and other genetic disorders. On the other hand, we study the impact of splicing abnormalities on colon and lung cancer, and we have recently discovered a new therapy for Familial Dysautonomia, a neurodegenerative disease caused by a splicing defect in the nervous system.

Email: gilast@tauex.tau.ac.il
Phone: 03-6406893
Another phone: 03-6406894
Fax: 03-6408581
Gil Ast Laboratory
Office: School of Medicine, 1009