Andrey Tvardovskiy

Andrey Tvardovskiy, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, joining in January 2025. He is also a core member of the Epigenetics Institute at Penn, where he leads a research group focused on chromatin biology, aging, and quantitative proteomics.

His research centers on understanding how epigenetic modifications and chromatin protein composition change over the lifespan and contribute to aging and age-related diseases. By developing and applying advanced mass spectrometry-based proteomic methods—including top-down, middle-down, and quantitative proteomics—he investigates the combinatorial patterns of histone modifications and how they regulate genome function. His work has revealed that histone tails carry complex, non-random modification patterns and that the histone variant H3.3 accumulates with age, reshaping the epigenetic landscape.

The recent publications from his work demonstrate a strong focus on decoding chromatin states using semi-synthetic nucleosomes and proteomic profiling, with key contributions published in Nature, Nucleic Acids Research, and Molecular & Cellular Proteomics. He has developed innovative tools such as MARCS (Modification Atlas of Regulation by Chromatin States), an interactive web platform for exploring chromatin regulatory networks.

Scientific awards and recognitions include being invited as Guest Editor for a JoVE special issue on Mass Spectrometry-Based Approaches in Chromatin Biology, highlighting his leadership in methodological innovation.

Dr. Tvardovskiy is actively mentoring and expanding his team, recruiting Research Specialists, Graduate Students (from Penn), and Postdoctoral Fellows. His lab is set to install the Orbitrap Astral mass spectrometer, enabling next-generation analysis of nuclear proteins and histone modifications. He is also involved in disseminating knowledge through web tools and collaborative research.

His lab bridges biochemistry, biophysics, genomics, and proteomics to uncover the molecular mechanisms of epigenetic regulation in aging, with the long-term goal of identifying interventions to extend healthy human lifespan.