Michael Kobor

Michael Kobor is a medical geneticist whose research focuses on the epigenetic regulation of gene expression and genome function. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding the mechanistic nature of these processes and their modulation by environmental exposures.

Kobor’s research team takes an interdisciplinary approach, with investigations spanning the spectrum from model organisms to human populations. Through a variety of research approaches, ongoing work in Kobor’s laboratory touches on some of the fundamental questions in chromatin biology. These queries include how distinct chromosomal neighbourhoods are established; how they function and interact with enzymes involved in DNA metabolism; what the functional differences are between histone variants and canonical histones; and how chromatin-remodelling complexes are regulated. Most recently, working with his research team and interdisciplinary collaborators, Kobor has begun investigating epigenetic variation in humans, with a focus on the effects of social environment on lifelong health and aging. These studies aim to decipher the mechanisms by which environmental exposures and life experiences can ‘get under the skin’ to regulate the activity of genes and contribute to human physiology and behaviour during the life course of an individual.