Andrew P. Feinberg, MD
Medical Genetics
- Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty
Languages
- French
- English
Gender
MaleAbout Andrew P. Feinberg
Professional Titles
- Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Whiting School of Engineering, and Bloomberg School of Public Health
- King Fahd Professor of Medicine, Biomedical Engineering, Mental Health, Oncology, Biostatistics, Molecular Biology & Genetics, and Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
- Chief, Division of Molecular Medicine, Department of Medicine
- Director, Center for Epigenetics, Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences
- Gilman Scholar, Johns Hopkins University
Primary Academic Title
Professor of Medicine
Background
Andrew Feinberg studied mathematics and humanities at Yale in the Directed Studies honors program, and he received his B.A. (1973) and M.D. (1976) from the accelerated medical program at Johns Hopkins University, as well as an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins (1981). He performed a postdoctoral fellowship in developmental biology at UCSD, clinical training in medicine at University of Pennsylvania, and genetics research and clinical training at Johns Hopkins.
Dr. Feinberg is considered the founder of the field of cancer epigenetics, having discovered altered DNA methylation in cancer in the early 1980’s with Bert Vogelstein. Over the decades since, Feinberg and his colleagues have shaped the landscape of our understanding of DNA methylation and other epigenetic changes, and their applications to epidemiology and medicine, and have introduced groundbreaking statistical and laboratory methods to the study of the epigenome. He and his colleagues discovered human imprinted genes and loss of imprinting (LOI) in cancer, and they proved the epigenetic hypothesis of cancer through their work on Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome.
Most recently, they pioneered genome-scale epigenetics (epigenomics), with the first NIH funded Epigenome Center, pioneering methods including the first comprehensive genome-scale methylation discovering the major target for epigenetic variation in humans, CpG island shores. He led the first whole genome bisulfite sequencing analysis of human cancer, discovering large hypomethylated blocks that correspond to nuclear lamina-associated heterochromatin, as well as a mechanism for disruption of these blocks in epithelial-mesenchymal transition. He has also helped to create the field of epigenetic epidemiology, discovering epigenetic mediation of genetic variants in disease. He has made several important theoretical contributions as well, including the epigenetic progenitor hypothesis of cancer and the role of entropy in epigenetic development and disease.
He is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in the Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine, Engineering and Public Health, where he is Director of the Center for Epigenetics. He is a recipient of an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, is a member of the National Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Science, the NIH Council of Councils, and he has received honorary doctorates from the University of Uppsala, the Karolinska Institute, and the University of Amsterdam.
Centers and Institutes
Recent News Articles and Media Coverage
Additional Academic Titles
Professor of Genetic Medicine, Joint Appointment in Molecular Biology and Genetics, Professor of Oncology, Joint Appointment in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Contact for Research Inquiries
855 North Wolfe Street
Center for Epigenetics
Baltimore, MD 21205
Phone: (410) 614-3489
afeinberg@jhu.edu
Research Interests
Epigenetics in development and disease
Lab Website
Andrew Feinberg Laboratory - Lab Website
- The Feinberg Laboratory studies the epigenetic basis of normal development and disease, including cancer, aging and neuropsychiatric illness. Early work from our group involved the discovery of altered DNA methylation in cancer as well as common epigenetic (methylation and imprinting) variants in the population that may be responsible for a significant population-attributable risk of cancer. Over the last few years, we have pioneered the field of epigenomics (i.e., epigenetics at a genome-scale level), founding the first NIH-supported NIH epigenome center in the country and developing many novel tools for molecular and statistical analysis. Current research examines the mechanisms of epigenetic modification, the epigenetic basis of cancer, the invention of new molecular, statistical, and epidemiological tools for genome-scale epigenetics and the epigenetic basis of neuropsychiatric disease, including schizophrenia and autism.
Research Summary
Our laboratory is studying the epigenetic basis of normal development and disease, including cancer, aging, and neuropsychiatric illness. Early work from our group involved the discovery of altered DNA methylation in cancer, as well as common epigenetic (methylation and imprinting) variants in the population that may be responsible for a significant population-attributable risk of cancer.
Over the last few years, our laboratory has pioneered the field of epigenomics, i.e. epigenetics at a genome-scale level, founding the first NIH-supported NIH epigenome center in the country, and developing many novel tools for molecular and statistical analysis. Several discoveries and avenues of research have arisen from our epigenome center: CpG islands "shores," that drive many of the gene expression differences that distinguish normal tissues from each other and from cancer; the first map of the methylome in normal hematopoietic development, as well as in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) reprogramming, discovering that iPSC retain an epigenetic memory of their cell of origin.
Some of the projects we’re working on include:
- What are the epigenetic drivers of cancer progression? We are determining how mutations in epigenetic modifier genes alter the epigenetic landscape in normal development and cancer, and increase epigenetic plasticity and tumor cell survival.
- Can epigenetic alterations in cancer be reversed using novel approaches targeted to large blocks of heterochromatin and/or metabolism?
- What are the epigenetic drivers of neuropsychiatric disease and how are they related to brain-region specific developmental epigenetic marks?
- What is the relationship between common DNA sequence variants and tissue-specific epigenetic marks in normal development and disease?
- How do genome and environment interact to cause disease, and how is this mediated by the epigenome? We are attacking head-on the mechanisms through which environment influences gene function, or “GxE”, focusing on extremely important and contemporary exposures highly relevant to human health: diet, environmental toxicants and their relationship to metabolic disorders and cancer.
- What is the mathematical foundation of epigenetic information? We are pursuing our novel idea that genetic variants that control phenotypic variance confer a selective advantage in evolution in an environment that changes, and that the same idea may explain phenotypic plasticity in cancer evolution, with the “hallmarks” of cancer being selected for at the expense of the host.
Selected Publications
Feinberg AP. The key role of epigenetics in human disease prevention and mitigation. New England Journal of Medicine 378:1323-1334, 2018.
Jenkinson G, Pujadas E, Goutsias J, Feinberg AP. Potential energy landscapes identify the information-theoretic nature of the epigenome. Nature Genetics. 2017; 49:719-729.
McDonald OG, Li X, Saunders T, Tryggvadottir R, Mentch SJ, Warmoes MO, Word AE, Carrer A, Salz TH, Natsume S, Stauffer KM, Makohon-Moore A, Zhong Y, Wu H, Wellen KE, Locasale JW, Iacobuzio- Donahue C, Feinberg AP. Large-scale epigenomic reprogramming links anabolic glucose metabolism to distant metastasis during the evolution of pancreatic cancer progression. Nature Genetics. 2017; 49:367- 376.
Rizzardi LF, Hickey PF, Rodriguez DiBlasi V, Tryggvadóttir R, Callahan CM, Idrizi A, Hansen KD, Feinberg AP. Neuronal brain region-specific DNA methylation and chromatin accessibility are associated with neuropsychiatric disease heritability. Nature Neuroscience 22:307-316, 2019.
Vanaja KG, Timp W, Feinberg AP*, Levchenko A* (co-corresponding author). A loss of epigenetic control can promote cell death through reversing the balance of pathways in a signaling network. Molecular Cell 72:60-70, 2018
Honors
- Award for Excellence, Association for Molecular Pathology, 10/10/17
- Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa), University of Amsterdam, 1/13/16
- Baruch Spinoza Chair, University of Amsterdam, 1/1/12
- Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1/1/11
- Feodor Lynen Medal, 1/1/11
- Inaugural Daniel Coit Gilman Scholar of Johns Hopkins University, 1/1/11
- NIH Director's Pioneer Award, 1/1/11
- Doctor of Medicine (Honoris Causa), Karolinska Institutet, 1/1/10
- Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1/1/09
- Jacob and Marcus Wallenberg Fellow, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 1/1/09
- Elected Member, National Academy of Medicine, 1/1/07
- President's Diversity Recognition Award, Johns Hopkins University, 1/1/07
- Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa), Uppsala University, 1/1/07
- ISI, Most Cited Authors List (Top 0.1%), 1/1/01
- MERIT Award, National Cancer Institute, 1/1/01
- Association of American Physicians, 1/1/95
- American Society for Clinical Investigation, 1/1/90
- Award for Postdoctoral Investigation, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1/1/83
- Delta Omega, National Public Health Honorary Society, 1/1/81
- Research Award, Johns Hopkins Medical Society, 1/1/76
- General Honors, Johns Hopkins University, 1/1/73
Graduate Program Affiliations
Preceptor, Predoctoral Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Predoctoral Program in Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology Director, Predoctoral Program in Human Genetics, Predoctoral Program in Biomedical Engineering
Professional Activities
- American Journal of Human Genetics, Associate Editor, 1/1/97 - 1/1/01
- Cancer Cell, Editorial Board, 1/1/05
- Cancer Research, Associate Editor, 1/1/96 - 1/1/10
- Epigenetics and Chromatin, Editorial Board, 1/1/08
- Genome Research, Editorial Board, 1/1/05 - 1/1/11
- National Advisory Council on Environmental Health Sciences, NIH, Member, 7/1/14 - 6/30/18
- NIH, College of CSR Reviewers (senior trans-NIH grant review board), 1/1/09
- NIH Cancer Genetics Study Section, Charter Member, 1/1/03 - 1/1/05
- NIH Council of Councils, Member, 1/13/19
- Wellcome Trust Symposia on Epigenomics of Common Human Disease, Co-Chair, 1/1/10 - 1/1/14
Additional Training
B.A., Johns Hopkins University
M.D., Johns Hopkins University, 1976
M.P.H., Johns Hopkins University, 1981
Residency, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Baltimore MD ) (1976)