Bruce M. Paterson, Ph.D.
- Center for Cancer Research
- National Cancer Institute
- Building 37, Room 6118
- Bethesda, MD 20892-4260
- 240-760-7564
- patersob@mail.nih.gov
RESEARCH SUMMARY
Dr. Paterson pioneered the use of cell-free protein synthesis systems in the analysis of gene function. He co-developed the wheat-germ cell-free protein synthesis system, one of the first methods used to analyze functional mRNA levels in normal and transformed cells and tissues. He was a major contributor to the study of myogenesis in both vertebrates and in Drosophila, and was one of the first to demonstrate RNAi knock-down to study gene function during Drosophila development. He demonstrated that tissue-specific microRNA regulatory networks buffer gene function critical to cell homeostasis and differentiation, where the disruption of either can lead to cell transformation and cancer.
Areas of Expertise
Biography
Bruce M. Paterson, Ph.D.
Bruce Paterson received his Ph.D. in zoology in 1971 from the University of California-Berkeley with Dr. R. Strohman, studying muscle-specific gene expression during myogenesis in vitro. He continued this work at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, with Dr. D. Yaffe, from 1971 to 1974, followed by an additional year with Dr. J. Bishop at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, studying mRNA complexity changes during myogenesis. He has been with the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (formerly, the Laboratory of Biochemistry) since 1975.
Dr. Patterson retired as a Senior Investigator in 2015 and is now an NIH Scientist Emeritus.