\shelley L. Berger BS, PhD

Shelley Berger is a molecular biologist recognized for research on chromatin biology and epigenetics. Her major research interests are histone and factor post-translational modifications in chromatin regulation and of the tumor suppressor p53; her lab investigates the role of histone modifications in cellular aging and senescence, in cancer, in learning and memory, and underlying organismal level behavior. Berger was born in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with a BS in biology and then with a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology. She was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

She joined the faculty at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia and there held the Hilary Koprowski Professorship. Berger is currently the Daniel S. Och University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She joined the Penn faculty in 2009 as a member of the Departments of Cell & Developmental Biology, Genetics, and Biology. She serves as founding and current director of the Epigenetics Institute in the Penn Perelman School of Medicine. Berger is a fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Academy of Sciences.