Emily Bernstein is a professor at

Mount Sinai School of Medicine The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS or Mount Sinai), formerly the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, is a private medical school in New York City, New York, United States. The school is the academic teaching arm of the Mount Sina ...

known for her research on

RNA interference RNA interference (RNAi) is a biological process in which RNA molecules are involved in sequence-specific suppression of gene expression by double-stranded RNA, through translational or transcriptional repression. Historically, RNAi was known by ...

epigenetics In biology, epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression that happen without changes to the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix ''epi-'' (ἐπι- "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are "on top of" or "in ...

, and cancer, especially

melanoma Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer; it develops from the melanin-producing cells known as melanocytes. It typically occurs in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye (uveal melanoma). In very rare case ...

Education and career

Bernstein received her B.S. from McGill University in 1998 and earned a Ph.D. from

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

in 2003. Following her Ph.D. she was a postdoctoral researcher at

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a Private university, private Medical research, biomedical Research university, research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and pro ...

where she worked with David Allis. In 2008 she moved to Mount Sinai School of Medicine where, as of 2022, she is a professor in the department of oncology and dermatology.

Research

Bernstein is known for her research on RNA interference, epigenetics, and cell development. Her early research examined the enzyme

Dicer Dicer, also known as endoribonuclease Dicer or helicase with RNase motif, is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the gene. Being part of the RNase III family, Dicer cleaves double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) and pre-microRNA (pre-miRNA) into shor ...

, its role in cell development in mice, and

. While a postdoctoral researcher she examined linkages between non-coding RNA and chromatin and

DNA methylation DNA methylation is a biological process by which methyl groups are added to the DNA molecule. Methylation can change the activity of a DNA segment without changing the sequence. When located in a gene promoter (genetics), promoter, DNA methylati ...

. Subsequently, she has worked on histones, gene silencing, and tumor cell development. In 2022 her team discovered alterations to a gene which can lead to melanoma.

Selected publications

* * * *

Awards and honors

In 2014 Bernstein received a young investigators award from the

Pershing Square Foundation William Albert Ackman (born May 11, 1966) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager who is the founder and chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund management company. His investment approach has made him ...

References

External links

* * , May 14, 2016 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernstein, Emily Living people McGill University alumni Stony Brook University alumni Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai faculty Women medical researchers Cancer researchers Year of birth missing (living people)