Jef D. Boeke

About

Jef D. Boeke is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology and a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at NYU Tandon School of Engineering. He is also the Director of the Institute for Systems Genetics and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAA&S). His laboratory is well known for foundational work on mechanistic and genomic aspects of retro-transposition in yeast and mammalian systems. The Boeke lab is heavily involved in developing novel technologies in genetics, genomics, and synthetic biology, using yeast as a platform for exploring the construction of fully synthetic chromosomes for practical and theoretical studies. His team has assembled an international consortium called SC2.0 to rewrite and synthesize the first eukaryotic organism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with a projected complete synthesis and debugging of the entire genome by the end of 2020. His research interests include cancer, computational biology, genome integrity, genomics, microbiology, pharmacology, stem cell biology, systems biology, yeast, and retrotransposons. Boeke holds a Ph.D. from Rockefeller University and has experience at NYU Langone Health and the Institute for Systems Genetics.

Research topics

• Biology
• Genetics
• Evolutionary biology
• Cell biology
• Internal medicine
• Biochemistry
• Computational biology
• Urology
• Medicine
• Andrology

Selected publications

• The role of retrotransposable elements in ageing and age-associated diseases

  Nature · 2021 · 427 citations

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Widespread Transcriptional Scanning in the Testis Modulates Gene Evolution Rates

  Cell · 2020 · 195 citations

  DOI

• Regulation of the Dot1 histone H3K79 methyltransferase by histone H4K16 acetylation

  Science · 2021 · 115 citations

  Dot1 (disruptor of telomeric silencing-1), the histone H3 lysine 79 (H3K79) methyltransferase, is conserved throughout evolution, and its deregulation is found in human leukemias. Here, we provide evidence that acetylation of histone H4 allosterically stimulates yeast Dot1 in a manner distinct from but coordinating with histone H2B ubiquitination (H2BUb). We further demonstrate that this stimulatory effect is specific to acetylation of lysine 16 (H4K16ac), a modification central to chromatin str…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sirt6 regulates lifespan in <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2022 · 51 citations

  Significance Sirt6 is well known for its role in regulating the aging process, particularly for its ability to extend lifespan in mice when overexpressed. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms responsible for lifespan regulation by Sirt6 are not well understood. Here, we characterized dSirt6 in fruit flies ( Drosophila melanogaster ). We found that dSirt6 functions very similarly to mammalian Sirt6 at the molecular and biochemical levels. Furthermore, overexpressing dSirt6 increased lifes…

  PublisherDOI

• Physiology and immunology of a pig-to-human decedent kidney xenotransplant

  Nature · 2025-11-13 · 16 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Synthesis and Restructuring of a Yeast Chromosome

  NSF · $707k · 2007–2011

• Brca1-Mediated Suppression Of Retrotransposon Activity - Resubmission - 1

  NIH · $436k · 2020–2023

• Synthesis And Restructuring of a Yeast Chromosome

  NSF · $599k · 2014–2016

Frequent coauthors

• Joel S. Bader

  206 shared

• Leslie A. Mitchell

  Institute for Systems Biology

  125 shared

• Junbiao Dai

  Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

  117 shared

• Kathleen H. Burns

  115 shared

• Yizhi Cai

  University of Manchester

  97 shared

• Giovanni Stracquadanio

  University of Edinburgh

  88 shared

• Xuewen Pan

  Tango Therapeutics (United States)

  86 shared

• David Fenyö

  78 shared

Labs

• Health Tech HubPI

Education

• Ph.D., Molecular and Cell Biology

  University of California, San Francisco

  1985

• M.S., Molecular and Cell Biology

  University of California, San Francisco

  1981

• B.S., Biology

  University of California, San Diego

  1977

Awards & honors

• Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors

Similar researchers at New York University

• Andreas H. Hielscherh-48
• Weiqiang Chenh-47