under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey H. Chuang and Ms. Lu Zhang, Boston College

A deep understanding of variations of gene expression patterns is necessary to account

for the large range of phenotypic variation in the human population, despite the extensive

similarities in our genome. Control of gene regulation has numerous applications, ranging

from temporary increases in the production of necessary proteins, such as hemoglobins, to the

permanent inhibition of cytokines, serving as a possible cure to cancer. In this pilot genomewide

study, the effect of SNPs and transcription factor binding at distal control elements

known as enhancers on gene expression was investigated. It was found that enhancers acts

only upon genes a certain distance away, rather than on the nearest one or linkage groups

determined by synteny. Our results indicate that our methodology can be used to identify

critical regions for each gene where different transcription factors bind and influence gene expression.