Seychelle M. Vos

Seychelle M. Vos

Robert A. Swanson (1969) Career Development Professor of Life Sciences; HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholar

Seychelle M. Vos investigates how genome organization and gene expression are physically coupled across molecular scales.

617-253-5595

Phone

68-585

Office

seyvos@mit.edu

Email

Building 68 - Koch Biology Building

Location

Lab Website
Meg Rheault

Assistant

617-253-1809

Assistant Phone

Education

  • PhD, 2013, University of California, Berkeley
  • BS,  2008,  Genetics,  University of Georgia

Research Summary

We study the interplay of gene expression and genome organization. Our work focuses on understanding how large molecular machineries involved in genome organization and gene transcription regulate each others’ function to ultimately determine cell fate and identity. We employ a broad range of approaches including single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), X-ray crystallography, biochemistry, and genetics to mechanistically understand how these molecular assemblies regulate each other across molecular scales.

Awards

  • New Innovator Award, National Institutes of Health Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program, 2021

Recent Publications

  1. ARF alters PAF1 complex integrity to selectively repress oncogenic transcription programs upon p53 loss. Wang, J, Fendler, NL, Shukla, A, Wu, SY, Challa, A, Lee, J, Joachimiak, LA, Minna, JD, Chiang, CM, Vos, SM et al.. 2024. Mol Cell 84, 4538-4557.e12.
    doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2024.10.020PMID:39532099
  2. Chemical crosslinking extends and complements UV crosslinking in analysis of RNA/DNA nucleic acid-protein interaction sites by mass spectrometry. Welp, LM, Sachsenberg, T, Wulf, A, Chernev, A, Horokhovskyi, Y, Neumann, P, Pašen, M, Siraj, A, Raabe, M, Johannsson, S et al.. 2024. bioRxiv , .
    doi: 10.1101/2024.08.29.610268PMID:39257782
  3. Pause Patrol: Negative Elongation Factor's Role in Promoter-Proximal Pausing and Beyond. Diao, AJ, Su, BG, Vos, SM. 2025. J Mol Biol 437, 168779.
    doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2024.168779PMID:39241983
  4. The structural basis for RNA slicing by human Argonaute2. Mohamed, AA, Wang, PY, Bartel, DP, Vos, SM. 2024. bioRxiv , .
    doi: 10.1101/2024.08.19.608718PMID:39229170
  5. Identification and characterization of a human MORC2 DNA binding region that is required for gene silencing. Fendler, NL, Ly, J, Welp, L, Urlaub, H, Vos, SM. 2024. bioRxiv , .
    doi: 10.1101/2024.06.05.597643PMID:38895295
  6. Targeting MYC effector functions in pancreatic cancer by inhibiting the ATPase RUVBL1/2. Vogt, M, Dudvarski Stankovic, N, Cruz Garcia, Y, Hofstetter, J, Schneider, K, Kuybu, F, Hauck, T, Adhikari, B, Hamann, A, Rocca, Y et al.. 2024. Gut 73, 1509-1528.
    doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2023-331519PMID:38821858
  7. The MYCN oncoprotein is an RNA-binding accessory factor of the nuclear exosome targeting complex. Papadopoulos, D, Ha, SA, Fleischhauer, D, Uhl, L, Russell, TJ, Mikicic, I, Schneider, K, Brem, A, Valanju, OR, Cossa, G et al.. 2024. Mol Cell 84, 2070-2086.e20.
    doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2024.04.007PMID:38703770
  8. MECP2 directly interacts with RNA polymerase II to modulate transcription in human neurons. Liu, Y, Flamier, A, Bell, GW, Diao, AJ, Whitfield, TW, Wang, HC, Wu, Y, Schulte, F, Friesen, M, Guo, R et al.. 2024. Neuron 112, 1943-1958.e10.
    doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.04.007PMID:38697112
  9. Distinct negative elongation factor conformations regulate RNA polymerase II promoter-proximal pausing. Su, BG, Vos, SM. 2024. Mol Cell 84, 1243-1256.e5.
    doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2024.01.023PMID:38401543
  10. Inherited blood cancer predisposition through altered transcription elongation. Zhao, J, Cato, LD, Arora, UP, Bao, EL, Bryant, SC, Williams, N, Jia, Y, Goldman, SR, Nangalia, J, Erb, MA et al.. 2024. Cell 187, 642-658.e19.
    doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.12.016PMID:38218188

Multimedia

Photo credit: Raleigh McElvery