Verzi Lab of Gastrointestinal Research
We’re fascinated by all aspects of intestinal biology. Here’s a a look at a small stretch of intestine. This undulating epithelial pattern of crypts and villi repeats millions of times along the length of our small intestine.
We pursue questions of basic intestinal development and homeostasis, as well as various aspects of intestinal health. Our studies have focused upon the development of the intestine, normal intestinal function, intestinal stem cells, the role of cellular metabolism in intestinal health, inflammatory bowel diseases, and colorectal cancers. Many of our projects employ epigenomics, mouse models, or patient-derived organoids.
You can find all of our Publications here.
Some of the recent/most relevant works:
Nguyen MU, Potgieter S, Huang W, Pfeffer J, Woo S, Zhao C, Lawlor M, Yang R, Halstead A, Dent S, Sáenz JB, Zheng H, Yuan ZF, Sidoli S, Ellison CE, Verzi MP. KAT2 paralogs prevent dsRNA accumulation and interferon signaling to maintain intestinal stem cells. Science Advances. 2024
Vemuri K, Kumar S, Chen L, Verzi MP. Dynamic RNA polymerase II occupancy drives differentiation of the intestine under the direction of HNF4. Cell Reports. 2024
Chen L, Qiu X, Dupre A, Pellon-Cardenas O, Fan X, Xu X, Rout P, Walton KD, Burclaff J, Zhang R, Fang W, Ofer R, Logerfo A, Vemuri K, Bandyopadhyay S, Wang J, Barbet G, Wang Y, Gao N, Perekatt AO, Hu W, Magness ST, Spence JR, Verzi MP. TGFB1 induces fetal reprogramming and enhances intestinal regeneration. Cell Stem Cell. 2023
Fleet JC, Aldea D, Chen L, Christakos S, Verzi M. Regulatory domains controlling high intestinal vitamin D receptor gene expression are conserved in mouse and human. JBC. 2022
Tong K, Kothari OA, Haro KS, Panda A, Bandari MM, Carrick JN, Hur JJ, Zhang L, Chan CS, Xing J, Gatza ML, Ganesan S, Verzi MP. SMAD4 is critical in suppression of BRAF-V600E serrated tumorigenesis. Oncogene. 2021
Chen L, Luo S, Dupre A, Vasoya RP, Parthasarathy A, Aita R, Malhotra R, Hur J, Toke NH, Chiles E, Yang M, Cao W, Flores J, Ellison CE, Gao N, Sahota A, Su X, Bonder EM, Verzi MP. The nuclear receptor HNF4 drives a brush border gene program conserved across murine intestine, kidney, and embryonic yolk sac. Nature Communications. 2021
Chen L, Cao W, Aita R, Aldea D, Flores J, Gao N, Bonder EM, Ellison CE, Verzi MP. Three-dimensional interactions between enhancers and promoters during intestinal differentiation depend upon HNF4. Cell Reports. 2021
Chen L, Toke NH, Luo S, Vasoya RP, Fullem RL, Parthasarathy A, Perekatt AO, Verzi MP. A reinforcing HNF4-SMAD4 feed-forward module stabilizes enterocyte identity. Nature Genetics. 2019
Kumar N, Tsai YH, Chen L, Zhou A, Banerjee KK, Saxena M, Huang S, Toke NH, Xing J, Shivdasani RA, Spence JR, Verzi MP. The lineage-specific transcription factor CDX2 navigates dynamic chromatin to control distinct stages of intestine development. Development. 2019
Yu S, Tong K, Zhao Y, Balasubramanian I, Yap GS, Ferraris RP, Bonder EM, Verzi MP, Gao N. Paneth Cell Multipotency Induced by Notch Activation following Injury. Cell Stem Cell. 2018
Banerjee KK, Saxena M, Kumar N, Chen L, Cavazza A, Toke NH, O'Neill NK, Madha S, Jadhav U, Verzi MP, Shivdasani RA. Enhancer, transcriptional, and cell fate plasticity precedes intestinal determination during endoderm development. Genes and Dev. 2018
Perekatt AO, Shah P, Cheung S, Jariwala N, Wu A, Gandhi V, Kumar N, Fang Q, Patel N, Chen L, Joshi S, Zhou A, Taketo MM, Xing J, White E, Gao N, Gatza M, Verzi MP. SMAD4 suppresses WNT-driven dedifferentiation and oncogenesis in the differentiated gut epithelium. Cancer Research. 2018
Srivillibhuthur M, Warder B, Toke N, Shah P, Feng Q, Gao N, Bonder E, Verzi M. TFAM is required for maturation of the fetal and adult intestinal epithelium. Dev. Biol. 2018
Tong K, Pellon-Cardenas O, Sirihorochai VR, Warder BN, Kothari OA, Perekatt AO, Fokas EE, Fullem RL, Zhou A, Thackray JK, Tran H, Zhang L, Xing J, Verzi MP. Degree of Tissue Differentiation Dictates Susceptibility to BRAF-Driven Colorectal Cancer. Cell Reports. 2017
Kumar N, Srivillibhuthur M, Joshi S, Walton KD, Zhou A, Faller WJ, Perekatt AO, Sansom OJ, Gumucio DL, Xing J, Bonder EM, Gao N, White E, Verzi MP. A YY1-dependent increase in aerobic metabolism is indispensable for intestinal organogenesis. Development. 2016
Tsai YH, Hill DR, Kumar N, Huang S, Chin AM, Dye BR, Nagy MS, Verzi MP, Spence JR. LGR4 and LGR5 Function Redundantly During Human Endoderm Differentiation. CMGH. 2016
Lund PK, Verzi MP. Singling Out Intestinal Epithelial Stem Cells. Gastroenterology. 2016
San Roman AK, Aronson BE, Krasinski SD, Shivdasani RA, Verzi MP. Transcription Factors GATA4 and HNF4A Control Distinct Aspects of Intestinal Homeostasis in Conjunction With the Transcription Factor CDX2. J Biol Chem. 2015
Das S, Yu S, Sakamori R, Vedula P, Qiang F, Flores J, Hoffman A, Fu J, Stypulkowski E, Rodriguez A, Dobrowolski R, Harada A, Hsu W, Bonder EM, Verzi MP, Gao N, Rab8a vesicles regulate Wnt ligand delivery and Paneth cell maturation at the intestinal stem cell niche. Development. May, 2015
Chahar S, Gandhi V, Yu S, Desai K, Cowper-Sal-lari R, Kim Y, Perekatt AO, Kumar N, Thackray JK, Musolf A, Kumar N, Hoffman A, Londono D, Vazquez BN, Serrano L, Shin H, Lupien M, Gao N, Verzi MP. Chromatin profiling reveals regulatory network shifts and a protective role for HNF4A during colitis. Mol Cell Biol 2014 Featured on cover.
Perekatt AO, Valdez MJ, Davila M, Hoffman A, Bonder EM, Gao N, Verzi MP. YY1 is indispensable for Lgr5+ intestinal stem cell renewal. PNAS. 2014 selected as a Faculty1000 paper.
Kim TH, Li F, Ferreiro-Neira I, Ho L, Luyten A, Nalapareddy K, Long H, Verzi MP, Shivdasani RA. Broadly permissive intestinal chromatin underlies lateral inhibition and cell plasticity. Nature. 2014
Sakamori R, Yu S, Zhang X, Hoffman A, Sun J, Das S, Vedula P, Li G, Fu J, Walker F, Yang CS, Hsu W, Yu DH, Shen L, Rodriguez AJ, Taketo MM, Bonder EM, Verzi MP, Gao N. CDC42 inhibition suppresses progression of incipient intestinal tumors. Cancer Res. 2014
Beuling E, Aronson BE, Tran LM, Stapleton KA, ter Horst EN, Vissers LA, Verzi MP, Krasinski SD. GATA6 is required for proliferation, migration, secretory cell maturation, and gene expression in the mature mouse colon. Mol Cell Biol. 2012
Verzi MP, Shin H, He HH,Sulahian R, Meyer CA, Montgomery RK, Fleet JC, Brown M, Liu XS, Shivdasani RA. Differentiation-specific histone modifications reveal dynamic chromatin interactions and partners for the intestinal transcription factor CDX2. Dev Cell. 2010 Nov 16;19(5):713-26.
Verzi MP, Shivdasani RA. Stem cells: The intestinal-crypt casino. Nature. 2010
Verzi MP, Hatzis P, Sulahian R, Philips J, Schuijers J, Shin H, Freed E, Lynch JP, Dang DT, Brown M, Clevers H, Liu XS, Shivdasani RA. TCF4 and CDX2, major transcription factors for intestinal function, converge on the same cis-regulatory regions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010
Verzi MP, Agarwal P, Brown C, McCulley DJ, Schwarz JJ, Black BL. The transcription factor MEF2C is required for craniofacial development. Dev Cell. 2007