Grace B. Gill, Ph.D. (she/her)

  • Associate Professor of Division of Oncological Sciences, School of Medicine
  • Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology, School of Medicine

Biography

Grace Gill, Ph.D. previously held faculty positions at Harvard Medical School and Tufts University School of Medicine. Grace Gill’s research into the molecular mechanisms of transcriptional regulation includes seminal work on the modularity and function of eukaryotic activation domains as well as studies establishing that SUMO-modification of transcription factors promotes association with co-repressors that alter the epigenetic landscape.  Grace was a Visiting Scientist at Cell and Molecular Cell and a Senior Scientific Editor at Cell Reports, where she worked to promote clear communication of new findings to the scientific community. In her recent role as Director of Harvard Integrated Life Sciences, Grace worked to optimize training for a large community of graduate students. Grace is a CIMER Certified Facilitator of Entering Mentoring and has helped faculty and trainees to improve their mentoring relationships. Grace is an experienced scientist, reviewer, editor and administrator and is passionate about providing supportive mentoring to foster self-efficacy, belonging and professional development to the next generation of scientists.

Education and training

    • B.A., University of California, Berkeley
    • Ph.D., Harvard University
  • Fellowship

    • Post-doctoral fellow at University of California, Berkeley

Areas of interest

  • Gene expression and Signaling pathways
  • Mentorship
  • Science Communication

Publications

Selected publications

  • Separation of DNA binding from the transcription activating function of a eukaryotic regulatory protein Science   Feb 1986 Liam Keegan, Grace Gill, Mark Ptashne
  • SUMO-1 modification represses Sp3 transcriptional activation and modulates its subnuclear localization Molecular Cell   Oct 2002 Sarah Ross, Jennifer L. Best, Leonard Zon, Grace Gill
  • The SUMO-specific protease SENP5 is required for cell division Mol. Cell Biol.   Jun 2006 Alessandra Di Bacco, Jian Ouyang, Hsiang-Ying Lee, Andre Catic, Hidde Ploegh, Grace Gill
  • The transcription factor Sp4 regulates dendritic patterning during cerebellar development Proc. Nat. Acad. of Sciences  Jun 2007 Belén Ramos, Brice Gaudillière, Azad Bonni, Grace Gill
  • Direct binding of CoREST1 to SUMO-2/3 contributes to gene-specific repression by the LSD1/CoREST1/HDAC complex Molecular Cell.  Apr 2009 *Recommended by Faculty of 1000 Biology* Jian Ouyang, Yujiang Shi, Alvaro Valin, Yan Xuan, Grace Gill
  • The transcription factor Sp4 is reduced in postmortem cerebellum of bipolar disorder subjects: Control by depolarization and lithium Bipolar Disorders  Aug-Sep. 2011 Raquel Pinacho, Nuria Villalmanzo, Jasmin Lalonde, Josep Maria Haro, J Javier Meana, Grace Gill, Belén Ramos
  • Cell-state transitions regulated by Slug are critical for tissue regeneration and tumor initiation Stem Cell Reports  May 2014 Sarah Phillips, Aleix Prat, Maja Sedic, Theresa Proia, Ania Wronski , Sohini Mazumdar, Adam Skibinski, Stephanie H Shirley, Charles M Perou, Grace Gill , Piyush B Gupta, Charlotte Kuperwasser
  • Store-operated Ca2+ Entry Regulates Transcription Factor Sp4 in Resting Neurons Sci Signaling. Jun 2014 *Featured in a Perspective in Sci Signaling* Jasmin Lalonde, Gregory Saia, Grace Gill
  • Transcription Factor Sp4 regulates expression of Nervous Wreck 2 to control NMDAR1 levels and dendrite patterning Dev Neurobiol.  Jan 2014 Xinxin Sun, Raquel Pinacho, Gregory Saia, Diana Punko, J Javier Meana, Belén Ramos, Grace Gill
  • CoREST1 promotes tumor formation and tumor stroma interactions in a mouse model of breast cancer PLOS One. March 2015 Sohini Mazumdar, Lisa M Arendt , Sarah Phillips, Maja Sedic, Charlotte Kuperwasser, Grace Gill