Chhabi Govind is awarded $1.3M NIH grant

CHHABI GOVIND CAS - Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences. Dr. Govind obtained his M.S. degree in Biotechnology in 1996 from Madurai Kamaraj University, India. He was awarded Research fellowship from the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, to pursue doctoral studies at National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi. He obtained his PhD in 2001. In the years 2001-2003 he pursued post-doctoral studies, as a Fogarty Fellow, in the Department of Cell Biology, University of Virginia at Charlottesville. He studied transcriptional regulation of spermatogenesis using a mouse model system. Dr. Govind then developed a strong interest in studying the mechanisms of gene regulation, which led him to join laboratory of Dr. Alan G. Hinnebusch (National Institute of Child Health and Development, Bethesda, USA) as a post-doctoral research fellow. In Dr. Hinnebusch laboratory, where he stayed until now, he has made significant contributions to our understanding of chromatin structure that undergoes dynamic alterations in the cell’s nucleus to control gene activity. Dr. Govind made his discoveries using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, commonly known as budding yeast, as a model system. He has been able to unveil several remarkable mechanisms involved in transcriptional regulation in eukaryotes. Through his research he highlighted the role of histone acetyltransferase complex (SAGA) in transcription elongation and mRNA export. Before his work, this complex was thought to function only during transcription initiation. Dr. Govind has thus far been published 13 manuscripts in peer-reviewed scientific journals, including in the prestigious Molecular Cell, Genes & Development, Molecular & Cellular Biology, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA). He is currently working to understand the molecular mechanisms and functions of cotranscriptional acetylation of the transcribed regions. A long term goal of his research is to delineate the molecular mechanisms by which chromatin modifications by histone acetylation leads to changes in chromatin structure during transcription elongation.