Eric Richards

Eric Richards is an Adjunct Professor in MBG and a researcher in the Boyce Thompson Institute. Research in the Richards lab is broadly focused on epigenetics, the study of inherited information superimposed on the genetic sequence. Efforts to date have concentrated on cytosine methylation, which is one of the most fundamental types of epigenetic information in eukaryotic cells. The lab is interested in both the regulation of cytosine methylation and the phenotypic consequences of variation in cytosine methylation patterns. Work also extends to higher-order epigenetic information encoded in alternative chromatin packaging and the three-dimensional organization of the genetic material. Lab studies take advantage of the genetic and genomic resources available in the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana.