Nationality American | Name Richard Young | |
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Born Richard Allen Young
March 12, 1954 (age 70)
Pittsburgh, PA ( 1954-03-12 ) Fields Genetics, Genomics and Molecular Biology Institutions Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
MIT Alma mater Indiana University (BS)
Yale University (PhD) Notable awards Wilbur Cross Medal, Yale University (2006)
Scientific American 50 (2006)
Member, National Academy of Sciences (2012) | ||
Richard Allen Young (born March 12, 1954) is an American geneticist, a Member of Whitehead Institute, and a professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a pioneer in the systems biology of gene control who has developed genomics technologies and concepts key to understanding gene control in human health and disease. He has served as an advisor to the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health, and numerous scientific societies and journals. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and Scientific American has recognized him as one of the top 50 leaders in science, technology and business.
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Research
Young has made major contributions to the understanding of gene control in human development and disease. He discovered that a small set of human embryonic stem cell master transcription factors form a core regulatory circuitry that controls the gene expression program of these cells. This model provided a foundation for the reprogramming experiments of Shinya Yamanaka and is referenced in his original 2006 cellular reprogramming paper. This concept of core regulatory circuitry helps guide current efforts to understand gene control, to develop reprogramming protocols for other human cell types and to understand how gene dysregulation contributes to disease.
Young has introduced the concept of transcriptional amplification and described how much of the gene control program in cancer cells is amplified by oncogenic transcription factors such as c-MYC. According to Young, most genes experience transcription initiation, but it is the control of transcription elongation that plays key roles in cell control in health and disease.
Young discovered that large clusters of gene control elements, called super-enhancers, regulate genes that play prominent roles in cell identity. Furthermore, Young showed that disease-associated human genome variation occurs frequently in these super-enhancers and that cancer cell super-enhancers are especially vulnerable to certain transcriptional drugs.
Other Activities
Young is also an educator, entrepreneur and aviator. He teaches two graduate courses at MIT, "Cell Biology: Structure and Functions of the Nucleus" and "Topics of Mammalian Development and Genetics", and guest lectures at numerous universities and research institutes worldwide. Young has founded and advised companies in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Syros Pharmaceuticals. He holds a commercial pilot license and is a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.