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Kristin Murphy, PhD

Senior Research Associate

Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences

Cohen Lab Website
Email: keb94@cornell.edu

Profile

Research/Clinical Interests

My research focuses on mechanisms of gene regulation underlying developmental differentiation. Across diverse biological contexts including early embryogenesis, cancer metastasis, erythropoiesis, and most recently with the Cohen lab, gametogenesis, I combine genomic approaches (chromatin enrichment, transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics) with bioinformatics to uncover how precise gene regulation drives mammalian health and fertility.

Education

  • PhD, Genetics, Genomics & Development, Cornell University
  • BA, Biological Sciences, University of Delaware

Biography/Professional Experience

  • 2025-current: Sr. Research Associate, Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences, Cornell University
  • 2018-2025: Staff Scientist, Departments of Pediatrics and Biomedical Genetics, University of Rochester
  • 2014-2018: Laboratory Specialist, Department of Oncological Sciences, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah
  • 2013-2014: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Andrology, Utah Center for Reproductive Medicine, University of Utah

Publications

Selected Publications

1.    Park BJ, Hua S, Casler KD, Cefaloni E, Ayers MC, Lake RF, Murphy KE, Vertino PM, O'Connell MR, Murphy PJ. CUT&Tag overcomes biases of ChIP and establishes chromatin patterns for repetitive genomic loci. iScience. 2025 Nov 21;28(11).

2.    McGrath KE, Olsen JL, Koniski AD, Murphy KE, Getman M, An HH, Schulz VP, Kim AR, Zhang B, Carlson TL, Papoin J, Blanc L, Kingsley PD, Westhoff CM, Gallagher PG, Chou ST, Steiner LA, Palis J. BMI1 regulates human erythroid self-renewal through both gene repression and gene activation. Nat Commun. 2025 Aug 15;16(1).

3.    Murphy K, Getman M, Lv X, Murphy Z, Abid D, Rahman N, Bulger M, Steiner L. Histone H4 lysine 20 methylation marks genes dynamically regulated during erythroid maturation. Epigenetics Chromatin. 2025 Jul 26;18(1).

4.    Abid D, Murphy K, Murphy Z, Rahman N, Getman M, Steiner L. The Condensin II complex regulates essential gene expression programs during erythropoiesis. Development. 2025 May 15;152(10).

5.    Meng FW, Murphy KE, Makowski CE, Delatte B, Murphy PJ. Competition for H2A.Z underlies the developmental impacts of repetitive element de-repression. Development. 2023 Nov 1;150(21). 

6.    Murphy ZC, Murphy K, Myers J, Getman M, Couch T, Schulz VP, Lezon-Geyda K, Palumbo C, Yan H, Mohandas N, Gallagher PG, Steiner LA. Regulation of RNA polymerase II activity is essential for terminal erythroid maturation. Blood. 2021 Nov 4;138(18):1740-1756. 

7.   Murphy KE, Meng FW, Makowski CE, Murphy PJ. Genome-wide chromatin accessibility is restricted by ANP32E. Nat Commun. 2020 Oct 8;11(1):5063. 

Link to all publications

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