Dr. Pirrotta is a world leader in the area of polycomb group proteins. He attended Harvard University up to a postdoctorate level studying physical chemistry and molecular biology. He joined the new EMBL Laboratory in Heidelberg, studying gene regulation in bacteriophage lambda and then Drosophila molecular genetics. He proceeded from there to the Baylor College of Medicine, studying developmental biology, gene regulation and chromatin organization. After tenure at the University of Geneva, he joined Rutgers University in 2004 as part of a laboratory that studies polycomb proteins, epigenetic silencers, chromatin complexes, genomics and nuclear architecture.
