Philippe J. Batut, PhD

Vast expanses of our genome correspond to regulatory sequences that control the activity of our genes – a far greater proportion, in fact, than is devoted to protein-coding sequences themselves. Philippe Batut’s research aims to characterize these regulatory sequences and understand the molecular mechanisms by which they modulate gene expression during the development of a new organism.

Philippe's graduate work contributed to the ENCODE Project’s efforts towards the functional annotation of the human genome, and to a growing realization that much of our genome is transcribed into long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). These lncRNAs are a diverse class of molecules that, despite resembling mRNAs, do not encode proteins – and while a small subset has been shown to play important roles in regulating gene expression, their functions remain largely unexplored. Philippe used evolutionary transcriptomics approaches to show that many lncRNAs in the Drosophila genome are deeply conserved, suggesting that they are biologically relevant. Their expression is extremely dynamic during embryonic development, and these temporal dynamics are also highly conserved.

In his postdoctoral research at Princeton University, he leveraged quantitative live imaging approaches to study the mechanisms of transcriptional regulation in development in the group of Michael S. Levine. This work established, through the use of emerging genome engineering technologies, that the three-dimensional organization of the genome in the space of the nucleus plays a key role in regulating the temporal dynamics of gene expression. His work further paved the way for single-cell studies of the regulatory roles non-coding RNAs in developing embryos.

Learn more about his research at the Batut Lab.