Program Faculty

My lab studies the "dark matter" of the genome: repetitive, non-coding sequences that were originally considered to be "junk" but are now known to play important roles in genome structure and function. We are particularly interested in transposable elements (TEs), so-called "jumping genes" that selfishly hijack their host genome's machinery to make copies of themselves. Host genomes have in turn evolved sophisticated silencing mechanisms to identify TEs and suppress their activity. On the other hand, there are many fascinating examples of TEs serving beneficial roles for their host. We use both computational and wet lab approaches to better understand the multi-faceted nature of TE-host interactions and how these dynamics affect genome structure and function.

Publications