About the project
This PhD project will investigate how chromosomes segregate equally in each cell division through epigenetic regulation of the centromere, and how cells respond in stress conditions to maintain genome instability. The project use a variety of methods in the studies, including cell and molecular biology, genetics, genomics, imaging, and multi-omics analyses.
All eukaryotic chromosomes must segregate equally during each cell cycle for inheritance of genetic materials. The centromere is the cis-acting element on each chromosome that is responsible for microtubule attachment and chromosome movement.
This PhD project aims to understand the multiple epigenetic mechanisms, including histone variants, histone modifications, non-coding RNA, etc., that regulate centromere specification and function.
You'll use different whole organism models, such as the nematode C. elegans and budding yeast, to examine the dynamics in centromere formation and inactivation, and elucidate the functions and interplay among these epigenetic mechanisms.
You'll get training on cell and molecular biology techniques, including:
- cloning
- transgenic strain construction
- live-cell imaging
- fragment of antibody (Fab) construction and imaging
- immunofluorescence
- fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)
- chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by DNA sequencing (ChIP-seq), CUT&TAG, ATAC-seq
- long-read DNA sequencing
- de novo assembly and RNA sequencing
- single-cell manipulation
You'll also examine large datasets, perform bioinformatic analyses, communicate science with interdisciplinary colleagues, including basic biologists, cancer biologists, clinicians and chemists, and outreach research to undergraduate and the community.
This project will elucidate the basic cellular mechanism important for all eukaryotic chromosomes to be stably passed on for generations. The basic knowledge can be translated into understanding the causes of chromosome instability (CIN) in cancers and other genetic diseases.
Knowledge of centromere formation can facilitate the improvement of artificial chromosome development, which can be utilized as vectors for gene therapies.
