Dr. James (Jim) Davie

Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics
Scientist, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba
Senior Scientist, Research Institute in Oncology and Hematology
Director, Manitoba Epigenetic Network
General Secretary, Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences
General Secretary, International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Co-Editor-in-Chief, Canadian Science Publishing
Board of Director, Canadian Science Publishing

Fellow, Royal Society of Canada
Fellow, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences

Dr. Jim Davie is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics at the University of Manitoba, a Senior Scientist at the CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute, and Scientist at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba. He is the Secretary of the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada.

Research Program

Epigenetics and Phosphorylation

Epigenetic is a term used to describe changes in gene expression that are stable between cell divisions. Chromatin modifying enzymes including lysine acetytransferases (KATs), histone deacetylases (HDACs), histone kinases, histone phosphatases, lysine/arginine methyltransferases, lysine/arginine demethylases, ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes and DNA methyltransferases mediate chromatin remodeling and are components of a complex epigenetic network regulating gene expression during development, differentiation and disease. Multistep tumourigenesis is a progression of events resulting from alterations in the processing of the genetic information. These alterations result from stable genetic changes (mutations) in tumour suppressor genes and oncogenes (e.g. RAS) and potentially reversible epigenetic changes. DNA methylation and histone post-translational modifications (PTMs) are two epigenetic mechanisms that are altered in cancer cells.

Dr. Davie's research program has three research themes designed to understand the roles of epigenetic programming and nuclear structure in gene expression in normal and cancer cells:

i)    to characterize histone PTMs and chromatin modifying enzymes associated with
       transcribed chromatin in normal and cancer cells;
ii)   to investigate the mechanisms by which signal transduction pathways control chromatin
       dynamics;
iii)  to explore the organization of chromatin in the nucleus of normal and cancer cells. 
      

Research Publications: PubMed, Google Scholar