Steve Cole

UCLA School of Medicine
Professor of Medicine

My research maps the molecular pathways by which social and environmental factors influence the activity of human, viral, and tumor genomes. We use computational models of gene regulation to integrate results from epidemiology, clinical research, and laboratory experimental studies of neural influences in gene expression and disease processes. Our research has pioneered the use of functional genomics approaches in social and behavioral research, and has mapped the signal transduction pathways by which social factors enhance replication of HIV-1 and HHV-8 viruses, alter expression of immune response genes such as IL6 and IFNB, and up-regulate expression of pro-metastatic genes by human breast and ovarian cancer cells. Much of our work focuses on defining the specific transcription factors that come to represent psychological and social states in the context of gene regulation, and the genetic polymorphisms that modify individual sensitivity social-environmental regulation of gene expression.

Working Group

Early Childhood Interventions (ECI)

Additional Information

Email: coles@ucla.edu
Homepage: http://people.healthsciences.ucla.edu/institution/personnel?personnel_id=45359