Richard Freiman is molecular geneticist studying fundamental mechanisms of transcriptional regulation in mammalian development and human disease. Before joining the Brown faculty in 2003, Dr. Freiman completed graduate training in mechanisms garnering eukaryotic transcriptional regulation. He received his Ph.D. in Genetics from SUNY Stony Brook in 1997. His thesis research, conducted at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, involved elucidation of critical host cell-viral interactions regulating viral and cellular gene expression programs. In 1998, he moved to UC Berkeley where he conducted postdoctoral studies on mechanisms of tissue-specific gene expression. This work led to the discovery that components of general transcription factor complexes play direct and selective roles in mammalian development. He continues this research at Brown, using gene targeting in the mouse as the primary tool to characterize transcriptional regulators in mammalian reproduction and development. His recent work focuses on understanding the molecular etiology of infertility and ovarian cancer in women and mechanisms of spermatogonial stem cell regulation in men. He teaches courses on cell and molecular biology and stem cells.
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"Transcription and chromatin regulation by TAF4b during cellular quiescence of developing prospermatogonia." 2023.
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"A bioinformatic analysis of WFDC2 (HE4) expression in high grade serous ovarian cancer reveals tumor-specific changes in metabolic and extracellular matrix gene expression." 2022.
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| Gura MA, Relovská S, Abt KM, Seymour KA, Wu T, Kaya H, Turner JMA, Fazzio TG, Freiman RN. "TAF4b transcription networks regulating early oocyte differentiation." Development, vol. 149, no. 3, 2022. |
| Sloutskin, Anna, Shir-Shapira, Hila, Freiman, Richard N., Juven-Gershon, Tamar. "The Core Promoter Is a Regulatory Hub for Developmental Gene Expression." Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, vol. 9, 2021. |
| Gura MA, Mikedis MM, Seymour KA, de Rooij DG, Page DC, Freiman RN. "Dynamic and regulated TAF gene expression during mouse embryonic germ cell development." PLOS Genetics, vol. 16, no. 1, 2020, pp. e1008515. |
| Gustafson, Eric A., Seymour, Kimberly A., Sigrist, Kirsten, Rooij, Dirk G. D. E., Freiman, Richard N. "ZFP628 Is a TAF4b-Interacting Transcription Factor Required for Mouse Spermiogenesis." Molecular and Cellular Biology, vol. 40, no. 7, 2020. |
| Grive KJ, Gustafson EA, Seymour KA, Baddoo M, Schorl C, Golnoski K, Rajkovic A, Brodsky AS, Freiman RN. "TAF4b Regulates Oocyte-Specific Genes Essential for Meiosis." PLOS Genetics, vol. 12, no. 6, 2016, pp. e1006128. |
| Brown, Caitlin W., Brodsky, Alexander S., Freiman, Richard N. "Abstract POSTER-BIOL-1352: Notch3 promotes anoikis resistance in ovarian cancer." Clin Cancer Res, vol. 21, no. 16 Supplement, 2015, pp. POSTER-BIOL-1352-POSTER-BIOL-1352. |
| Lovasco, Lindsay A., Gustafson, Eric A., Seymour, Kimberly A., de Rooij, Dirk G., Freiman, Richard N. "TAF4b is Required for Mouse Spermatogonial Stem Cell Development." STEM CELLS, vol. 33, no. 4, 2015, pp. 1267-1276. |
| Grive KJ, Freiman RN. "The developmental origins of the mammalian ovarian reserve." Development, vol. 142, no. 15, 2015, pp. 2554-63. |
| Brown, C. W., Brodsky, A. S., Freiman, R. N. "Notch3 Overexpression Promotes Anoikis Resistance in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer via Upregulation of COL4A2." Molecular Cancer Research, vol. 13, no. 1, 2014, pp. 78-85. |
| Grive KJ, Seymour KA, Mehta R, Freiman RN. "TAF4b promotes mouse primordial follicle assembly and oocyte survival." Developmental Biology, vol. 392, no. 1, 2014, pp. 42-51. |
| Grive, Kathryn Jennifer, Ribiero, Jennifer R., Seymour, Kimberly A., Freiman, Richard N. "TAF4b promotes oocyte survival and proper ovarian chromatin state in the mouse." RA, 2014. |
| Ribeiro JR, Lovasco LA, Vanderhyden BC, Freiman RN. "Targeting TBP-Associated Factors in Ovarian Cancer." Frontiers in Oncology, vol. 4, 2014, pp. 45. |
| Wardell, Jennifer R., Grive, Kathryn J., Hodgkinson, Kendra M., Binder, April K., Seymour, Kimberly A., Lovasco, Lindsay A., Korach, Ken S., Vanderhyden, Barbara C., Freiman, Richard N. "Abstract A81: Estrogen-responsiveness of the TFIID subunit TAF4B and its potential function in ovarian cancer, epigenetic regulation and meiotic DNA repair." Clin Cancer Res, vol. 19, no. 19 Supplement, 2013, pp. A81-A81. |
| Wardell JR, Hodgkinson KM, Binder AK, Seymour KA, Korach KS, Vanderhyden BC, Freiman RN. "Estrogen responsiveness of the TFIID subunit TAF4B in the normal mouse ovary and in ovarian tumors." Biology of Reproduction, vol. 89, no. 5, 2013, pp. 116. |
| Freiman RN. "Processing the complexities of transcription." Developmental Cell, vol. 27, no. 2, 2013, pp. 123-4. |
| Reich A, Neretti N, Freiman RN, Wessel GM. "Transcriptome variance in single oocytes within, and between, genotypes." Mol. Reprod. Dev., vol. 79, no. 8, 2012, pp. 502-3. |
| Lovasco LA, Seymour KA, Zafra K, O'Brien CW, Schorl C, Freiman RN. "Accelerated ovarian aging in the absence of the transcription regulator TAF4B in mice." Biology of Reproduction, vol. 82, no. 1, 2010, pp. 23-34. |
| Freiman RN. "Specific variants of general transcription factors regulate germ cell development in diverse organisms." Biochimica et biophysica acta, vol. 1789, no. 3, 2009, pp. 161-6. |
| Lovasco, Lindsay, Freiman, Richard. "The changing distribution of sperm MIWI." Mol. Reprod. Dev., vol. 76, no. 2, 2009, pp. 119-119. |
| Gyuris A, Donovan DJ, Seymour KA, Lovasco LA, Smilowitz NR, Halperin AL, Klysik JE, Freiman RN. "The chromatin-targeting protein Brd2 is required for neural tube closure and embryogenesis." Biochimica et biophysica acta, vol. 1789, no. 5, 2009, pp. 413-21. |
| Voronina E, Lovasco LA, Gyuris A, Baumgartner RA, Parlow AF, Freiman RN. "Ovarian granulosa cell survival and proliferation requires the gonad-selective TFIID subunit TAF4b." Developmental Biology, vol. 303, no. 2, 2007, pp. 715-26. |
| Geles KG, Freiman RN, Liu WL, Zheng S, Voronina E, Tjian R. "Cell-type-selective induction of c-jun by TAF4b directs ovarian-specific transcription networks." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 103, no. 8, 2006, pp. 2594-9. |
| Falender AE, Freiman RN, Geles KG, Lo KC, Hwang K, Lamb DJ, Morris PL, Tjian R, Richards JS. "Maintenance of spermatogenesis requires TAF4b, a gonad-specific subunit of TFIID." Genes & Development, vol. 19, no. 7, 2005, pp. 794-803. |
| Freiman RN, Tjian R. "Regulating the regulators: lysine modifications make their mark." Cell, vol. 112, no. 1, 2003, pp. 11-7. |
| Freiman RN, Tjian R. "Neurodegeneration. A glutamine-rich trail leads to transcription factors." Science, vol. 296, no. 5576, 2002, pp. 2149-50. |
| Freiman RN, Albright SR, Chu LE, Zheng S, Liang HE, Sha WC, Tjian R. "Redundant role of tissue-selective TAF(II)105 in B lymphocytes." Molecular and Cellular Biology, vol. 22, no. 18, 2002, pp. 6564-72. |
| Freiman RN, Albright SR, Zheng S, Sha WC, Hammer RE, Tjian R. "Requirement of tissue-selective TBP-associated factor TAFII105 in ovarian development." Science, vol. 293, no. 5537, 2001, pp. 2084-7. |
| Goto H, Motomura S, Wilson AC, Freiman RN, Nakabeppu Y, Fukushima K, Fujishima M, Herr W, Nishimoto T. "A single-point mutation in HCF causes temperature-sensitive cell-cycle arrest and disrupts VP16 function." Genes & Development, vol. 11, no. 6, 1997, pp. 726-37. |
| Sutton A, Freiman R. "The Cak1p protein kinase is required at G1/S and G2/M in the budding yeast cell cycle." Genetics, vol. 147, no. 1, 1997, pp. 57-71. |
| Freiman RN, Herr W. "Viral mimicry: common mode of association with HCF by VP16 and the cellular protein LZIP." Genes & Development, vol. 11, no. 23, 1997, pp. 3122-7. |
| Wilson AC, Freiman RN, Goto H, Nishimoto T, Herr W. "VP16 targets an amino-terminal domain of HCF involved in cell cycle progression." Molecular and Cellular Biology, vol. 17, no. 10, 1997, pp. 6139-46. |
| Cooper DA, Lu SC, Viswanath R, Freiman RN, Bensadoun A. "The structure and complete nucleotide sequence of the avian lipoprotein lipase gene." Biochimica et biophysica acta, vol. 1129, no. 2, 1992, pp. 166-71. |
| Seizinger BR, Smith DI, Filling-Katz MR, Neumann H, Green JS, Choyke PL, Anderson KM, Freiman RN, Klauck SM, Whaley J. "Genetic flanking markers refine diagnostic criteria and provide insights into the genetics of Von Hippel Lindau disease." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 88, no. 7, 1991, pp. 2864-8. |
| Chung R, Whaley J, Kley N, Anderson K, Louis D, Menon A, Hettlich C, Freiman R, Hedley-Whyte ET, Martuza R. "TP53 gene mutations and 17p deletions in human astrocytomas." Genes, chromosomes & cancer, vol. 3, no. 5, 1991, pp. 323-31. |
| Menon AG, Anderson KM, Riccardi VM, Chung RY, Whaley JM, Yandell DW, Farmer GE, Freiman RN, Lee JK, Li FP. "Chromosome 17p deletions and p53 gene mutations associated with the formation of malignant neurofibrosarcomas in von Recklinghausen neurofibromatosis." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 87, no. 14, 1990, pp. 5435-9. |
New Scholar Award in Aging (PI: Freiman, R.N.) 7/1/2006-06/30/2010
The Ellison Medical Foundation Direct Costs: $184,000
Germline Stem Cell Maintenance During Mammalian Spermatogenesis
The major goals of this project are to identify the potential functions of TAF4b in the regulation of testicular homeostasis and premature testicular aging in the context of the TAF4b-deficient mice.
Research Scholar Grant DMC-117629 (PI: Freiman, R.N.) 07/01/2009-06/30/2013
American Cancer Society Direct Costs: $720,000
TAF4b function in granulosa cell proliferation and ovarian tumorigenesis
The major goal of this project is to uncover the potential impact of TAF4b regulation in ovarian cancer using multiple mouse transgenic models.
1RO1 HD065445-01A2 (PI: Freiman, R.N.) 04/01/10-03/31/15
National Institutes of Health Direct Costs: $1,062,500
Ovarian-specific transcription networks regulated by the TFIID subunit TAF4b
The major goal of this project is to elucidate the mechanisms of the TAF4b subunit of TFIID in the regulation of ovarian-specific networks of gene expression.
2R56HD065445-06A1 (PI: Freiman, R.N.) 02/08/2016-01/31/2018
NIH/NICHD Direct Costs: $198,896
Ovarian-specific transcription networks regulated by the TFIID subunit TAF4b
The major goal of this project is to elucidate the mechanisms of the TAF4b subunit of TFIID in the regulation of ovarian-specific networks of gene expression.
1R01 HD091848-01A1 (PI: Freiman, R.N.) 08/10/2018-05/31/2022
NIH/NICHD Direct Costs: $1,048,709
Dynamic Regulation of the Ovarian Reserve
The major goal of this project is to understand the cell type-specific and temporal functions and mechanisms of TAF4b in promoting the normal development of the mouse ovarian reserve.
| Year | Degree | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | PhD | State University of New York at Stony Brook |
| 1989 | BS | Cornell University |
Society for the Study of Reproduction
American Association for Cancer Research
| BIOL 0500 - Cell and Molecular Biology |
| BIOL 1970A - Stem Cell Biology |
| BIOL 2050 - Biology of the Eukaryotic Cell |
| BIOL 2540 - Molecular Genetics |
