Jumping-Gene Researcher Leaps From NCI To Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A National Cancer Institute researcher who specializes in “jumping genes” has been recruited to The Ohio State University.

Dr. David E. Symer, who will be a member of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, is an assistant professor and researcher in the Ohio State’s Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics. He also is a practicing physician in the division of hematology and oncology; and an adjunct member of the department of biomedical informatics.

Symer’s research focuses on jumping genes, or transposons, in mammals. Transposons are unusual segments of DNA that can move to different positions within the genome of a single cell. Researchers believe that these tiny snippets, formerly known as junk DNA, might play important roles in affecting the stability of chromosomes and in regulating nearby genes.

Symer earned his medical and doctoral degrees at Johns Hopkins University. He completed his training in internal medicine and in hematology and oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Johns Hopkins Oncology Center. He then accepted a position at NCI, where he headed the epigenetics section. He has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.

Symer’s team works on factors that affect epigenetic changes, which are natural, reversible, chemical alterations that are heritable and can turn genes off. Abnormal epigenetic changes are thought to play an important role in cancer development by silencing genes that normally protect against the disease. Symer is studying how transposons and these epigenetic changes may affect each other in certain cancers, and how they may help bring about variation between human populations.

The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute is one of only 40 NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States and the only freestanding cancer hospital in the Midwest. Ranked among the top 20 cancer hospitals in the nation, The James is the 172-bed adult patient-care component of the cancer program at The Ohio State University.