Dr. Grant's Research
Dr. Patrick Grant’s research focuses on the role of histone modifications in chromatin remodeling, gene expression and genomic stability. After receiving his Ph.D. in Medicine from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, where he studied the regulation of immunoglobulin genes with Dr. Sven Pettersson, Dr. Grant joined Dr. Jerry Workman’s lab as an American Cancer Society fellow studying the role of nucleosomes in transcription regulation. During this time, he was the first to identify and characterize multiple coactivator/histone acetyltransferase complexes, including the archetypal SAGA complex.
He continued these studies as a Burroughs Wellcome Career Award recipient in his own lab at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. His research team identified SAGA dysfunction in neurodegenerative disease and isolated other novel epigenetic regulators and histone modifications linked to gene expression and DNA replication. At the University of Virginia, Dr. Grant served as the Associate Dean of Graduate and Medical Research Programs. He was elected to the Academy of Distinguished Educators and received the School of Medicine Award, Mulholland Awards, and Jefferson Scholars Foundation Award for excellence in teaching.
In the summer of 2020, Dr. Grant moved to the Department of Biomedical Science at the Florida Atlantic University, Schmidt College of Medicine. His current research interests involve the epigenomics of cellular proliferation, genomic modifications that mediate resistance to genotoxic cancer chemotherapeutics, and his lab collaborates in the study of molecular mechanisms underlying interventions for cocaine and opioid addiction.