R. Stefan Isaac, PhD
Assistant Professor
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Biochemistry & Cell Biology


Pronouns: he/him/his



Dr. Isaac's lab is focusing on the relationship between mitochondrial DNA packaging and expression and understanding the mechanisms that regulate the activity of this genome. Additionally, the lab interested in the structure and regulation of organellar genomes broadly, including those of chloroplasts and apicoplasts. The lab uses an multidisciplinary approach that combines genomics and bioinformatics, in vitro biochemistry, and molecular and cell biology to understand these biological processes.

He obtained his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Dr. Geeta Narlikar at the University of California, San Francisco studying how HP1 proteins play varied roles in heterochromatin establishment and maintenance. He was a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Stirling Churchman at Harvard Medical School, where he developed mtFiber-seq, an approach that maps mitochondrial DNA accessibility across entire genomes at nucleotide resolution.

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

iCite Analysis       Copy PMIDs To Clipboard

  1. Tullius TW, Isaac RS, Dubocanin D, Ranchalis J, Churchman LS, Stergachis AB. RNA polymerases reshape chromatin architecture and couple transcription on individual fibers. Mol Cell. 2024 Sep 05; 84(17):3209-3222.e5. PMID: 39191261; PMCID: PMC11500009; DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2024.08.013;
     
  2. Isaac RS, Tullius TW, Hansen KG, Dubocanin D, Couvillion M, Stergachis AB, Churchman LS. Single-nucleoid architecture reveals heterogeneous packaging of mitochondrial DNA. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2024 Mar; 31(3):568-577. PMID: 38347148; PMCID: PMC11370055; DOI: 10.1038/s41594-024-01225-6;
     
  3. Kramer NJ, Prakash G, Isaac RS, Choquet K, Soto I, Petrova B, Merens HE, Kanarek N, Churchman LS. Regulators of mitonuclear balance link mitochondrial metabolism to mtDNA expression. Nat Cell Biol. 2023 Nov; 25(11):1575-1589. PMID: 37770567; PMCID: PMC11370000; DOI: 10.1038/s41556-023-01244-3;
     
  4. Isaac RS, Churchman LS. The Long and the Short of the RNA Polymerase C-Terminal Domain and Phase Separation. Mol Cell. 2019 Mar 21; 73(6):1087-1088. PMID: 30901560; DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2019.03.004;
     
  5. Isaac RS, McShane E, Churchman LS. The Multiple Levels of Mitonuclear Coregulation. Annu Rev Genet. 2018 Nov 23; 52:511-533. PMID: 30230928; DOI: 10.1146/annurev-genet-120417-031709;
     
  6. Isaac RS, Sanulli S, Tibble R, Hornsby M, Ravalin M, Craik CS, Gross JD, Narlikar GJ. Biochemical Basis for Distinct Roles of the Heterochromatin Proteins Swi6 and Chp2. J Mol Biol. 2017 Nov 24; 429(23):3666-3677. PMID: 28942089; PMCID: PMC5693750; DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2017.09.012;
     
  7. Isaac RS, Jiang F, Doudna JA, Lim WA, Narlikar GJ, Almeida R. Nucleosome breathing and remodeling constrain CRISPR-Cas9 function. Elife. 2016 Apr 28; 5. PMID: 27130520; PMCID: PMC4880442; DOI: 10.7554/eLife.13450;
     
  8. Zhao H, Ghirlando R, Alfonso C, Arisaka F, Attali I, Bain DL, Bakhtina MM, Becker DF, Bedwell GJ, Bekdemir A, Besong TM, Birck C, Brautigam CA, Brennerman W, Byron O, Bzowska A, Chaires JB, Chaton CT, Cölfen H, Connaghan KD, Crowley KA, Curth U, Daviter T, Dean WL, Díez AI, Ebel C, Eckert DM, Eisele LE, Eisenstein E, England P, Escalante C, Fagan JA, Fairman R, Finn RM, Fischle W, de la Torre JG, Gor J, Gustafsson H, Hall D, Harding SE, Cifre JG, Herr AB, Howell EE, Isaac RS, Jao SC, Jose D, Kim SJ, Kokona B, Kornblatt JA, Kosek D, Krayukhina E, Krzizike D, Kusznir EA, Kwon H, Larson A, Laue TM, Le Roy A, Leech AP, Lilie H, Luger K, Luque-Ortega JR, Ma J, May CA, Maynard EL, Modrak-Wojcik A, Mok YF, Mücke N, Nagel-Steger L, Narlikar GJ, Noda M, Nourse A, Obsil T, Park CK, Park JK, Pawelek PD, Perdue EE, Perkins SJ, Perugini MA, Peterson CL, Peverelli MG, Piszczek G, Prag G, Prevelige PE, Raynal BD, Rezabkova L, Richter K, Ringel AE, Rosenberg R, Rowe AJ, Rufer AC, Scott DJ, Seravalli JG, Solovyova AS, Song R, Staunton D, Stoddard C, Stott K, Strauss HM, Streicher WW, Sumida JP, Swygert SG, Szczepanowski RH, Tessmer I, Toth RT, Tripathy A, Uchiyama S, Uebel SF, Unzai S, Gruber AV, von Hippel PH, Wandrey C, Wang SH, Weitzel SE, Wielgus-Kutrowska B, Wolberger C, Wolff M, Wright E, Wu YS, Wubben JM, Schuck P. A multilaboratory comparison of calibration accuracy and the performance of external references in analytical ultracentrifugation. PLoS One. 2015; 10(5):e0126420. PMID: 25997164
     
  9. Rougemaille M, Braun S, Coyle S, Dumesic PA, Garcia JF, Isaac RS, Libri D, Narlikar GJ, Madhani HD. Ers1 links HP1 to RNAi. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Jul 10; 109(28):11258-63. PMID: 22733737; PMCID: PMC3396509; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1204947109;
     
  10. Treacy DJ, Sankaran SM, Gordon-Messer S, Saly D, Miller R, Isaac SR, Kosinski-Collins MS. Implementation of a project-based molecular biology laboratory emphasizing protein structure-function relationships in a large introductory biology laboratory course. CBE Life Sci Educ. 2011; 10(1):18-24. PMID: 21364097; PMCID: PMC3046884; DOI: 10.1187/cbe.10-07-0085;
     

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 10 publications over 9 distinct years, with a maximum of 2 publications in 2024

YearPublications
20111
20121
20151
20161
20171
20181
20191
20231
20242


2012 UCSF, San Francisco, CA: TETRAD Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award
2010 Brandeis University, Waltham, MA: Richard Kaufman ’58 Memorial Prize for Leadership and Academic Excellence
2010 Brandeis University, Waltham, MA: Magna Cum Laude
In addition to these self-described keywords below, a list of MeSH based concepts is available here.

Mitochondria
Mitochondrial DNA
Genomics
Chromosome Structure

Dr. Isaac is willing to mentor graduate students and undergraduates interested in mitochondrial biology, genome and gene expression regulation, genetics and genomics, and protein biochemistry.

Available to Mentor as: (Review Mentor Role Definitions):
  • Advisor
  • Career Mentor
  • Co-Mentor or Peer Mentor
  • Diversity Mentor
  • Project Mentor
  • Work / Life Integration Mentor
Contact for Mentoring:
  • Email (see 'Contact Info')

617.358.4579
Download vCard

Isaac's Networks
Click the "See All" links for more information and interactive visualizations
Concepts
See all (61) concept(s)
_
Similar People
See all (60) people
_
Same Department
Search Department