Philip Robinson Email and Phone Number

I am a broadly-skilled life-science researcher with 20+ years of research experience. Most recently, I have directed a research team at the Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology (Birkbeck/UCL) investigating the structure and function of the human SWI/SNF chromatin remodelling complex (BAF), a macromolecular machine that plays a central role in gene regulation, development and cancer. As a result of this work, we have solved the first near-atomic resolution cryo-EM structure of endogenous human BAF engaged with a natural nucleosomal substrate, a finding which helps us understand how mutations in BAF subunits drive over 20% of human cancers. We have also developed tools to further our mechanistic understanding of chromatin remodelling. During my research training at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge and Stanford University Medical school, I also made key contributions to understanding chromatin structure and dynamics as well as elucidating the structure of the transcriptional machinery that assembles at eukaryotic gene promoters when genes are activated. Throughout my research career, my mission has been to advance our understanding of the molecular basis of key nuclear biology and its implications for human health and disease.