Ecker Lab Joseph Ecker is a first-generation college graduate from a Pennsylvania coal mining family. He’s also a professor in the Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory and director of the Genomic Analysis Laboratory at Salk. His pioneering work in sequencing the epigenome has made him a leader in both neuroscience and plant biology.
August 19, 2025
Tremendous work by the extremely talented postdocs!
August 5, 2025
In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we talked with Dr. Joseph Ecker from the Salk Institute about his work on high-resolution genome-wide mapping technologies, specifically how the regulation of gene expression is influenced by DNA methylation, chromatin accessibility, and non-coding RNAs across various cell types and developmental stages.
March 10, 2025
Researchers at the Salk Institute study how C4 photosynthesis could boost crop productivity and climate resilience.
July 8, 2024
Congratulations to my amazing colleague on this well deserved honor
July 7, 2024
The Ecker lab studies plant, mouse, and human cells to decipher epigenetic processes during development and disease. Combining newly developed methods with genome- and methylome-sequencing, Ecker’s lab group examines changes in the epigenome, exploring, for example, how adding molecules such as methyl or hydroxy-methyl groups to the backbone of DNA can help cells fine-tune gene expression. Much of the team’s work on mouse and human epigenomics is focused on the brain. By understanding how the genome and epigenome communicate with one another, they aim to untangle the complexity of regulatory processes that underlie both normal development and disease.
September 22, 2022
San Diego’s Salk institute has just received its biggest grant ever to help create a map of the human brain. That will lead to better medicine and better neurologic health.
October 8, 2020
May 8, 2020
Talk by Dr. Joseph Ecker, plant scientist at the Salk Institute, from the Ellen Potter Research Connections for Teachers Symposium.
March 29, 2019
February 5, 2019
Accurate prediction of the regulatory consequences of variants, and modeling gene regulation
Functional element discovery and characterization, and the interpretation of how variants effect function
Day 2 Breakout Reports and Discussion – Joseph Ecker
August 10, 2017
Under a microscope, it can be hard to tell the difference between any two neurons, the brain cells that store and process information. So scientists have turned to molecular methods to try to identify groups of neurons with different functions.
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September 28, 2016
Dr. Joseph Ecker, Salk Institute speaks on “Epigenomic Signatures of Neuronal Diversity”
June 1, 2015
This new atlas of human organ epigenomes provides a starting place to understand the role of chemical markers in development, health and disease.
For more than a decade, scientists have had a working map of the human genome, a complete picture of the DNA sequence that encodes human life. But new pages are still being added to that atlas: maps of chemical markers called methyl groups that stud strands of DNA and influence which genes are repressed and when. Read more »
March 17, 2015
From Genome Function to Biomedical Insight: ENCODE and Beyond
August 1, 2014
Future Opportunities for Genome Sequencing and Beyond: A Planning Workshop for the National Human Genome Research Institute.
July 2, 2014
Joe Ecker 1 of 2
Joe Ecker 2 of 2
Salk Institute professor Joe Ecker discusses a study he participated in that compared the quality of induced pluripotent stem cells with cells created by somatic cell nuclear transfer.
July 19, 2013
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Salk findings of a key genetic mechanism in plant hormone signaling may help save crops from stress and help address human hunger.
July 19, 2013
Salk findings of a key genetic mechanism in plant hormone signaling may help save crops from stress and help address human hunger.
July 19, 2013
Discovery may help protect crops from stressors.
February 2, 2011
Reprogramming adult cells to recapture their youthful “can-do-it-all” attitude appears to leave an indelible mark, found researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. When the team, led by Joseph Ecker, PhD., a professor in the Genomic Analysis Laboratory, scoured the epigenomes of so-called induced pluripotent stem cells base by base, they found a consistent pattern of reprogramming errors. Read more »
October 14, 2009
Although the human genome sequence faithfully lists (almost) every single DNA base of the roughly 3 billion bases that make up a human genome, it doesn’t tell biologists much about how its function is regulated. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute provide the first detailed map of the human epigenome, the layer of genetic control beyond the regulation inherent in the sequence of the genes themselves. Read more »