Rene Opavsky, Ph.D., joined the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology as an Associate Professor and Cancer Preeminent faculty on November 1, 2016. Dr. Opavsky received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Slovak Academy of Sciences and comes to the University of Florida from the University of Nebraska.
Dr. Opavsky’s research interests include cytosine methylation as a heritable epigenetic modification affecting gene transcription and the integrity of the genome, as well as the role of DNA methyltransferases in normal and malignant hematopoiesis.
Work in Dr. Opavsky’s laboratory focuses on the evaluation of functions performed by DNMTs in normal and malignant hematopoiesis utilizing mouse models, genome-wide approaches and in vivo functional studies of DNMT target genes. Particularly, they are interested in the role of promoter hypomethylation in cellular transformation in order to identify oncogenes for therapeutic targeting.
Welcome Dr. Opavsky!