Hi! I'm a postdoc in Dr. Abby Dernburg Lab at UC Berkeley. I use C. elegans to investigate crucial regulatory events during meiotic progression. I have always been fascinated by all aspects of chromosome biology.
One of the most important features meiosis have in general is the formation of crossovers between homologous chromosomes. As the initial layer of crossover regulation, the formation of meiotic DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) draw a lot of attention. I study the mechanisms that underlie the regulation of meiotic DSBs, as well as its foundation - meiotic chromosome axis formation.
Kinetochores, the molecular machinery that mediate chromosome segregation, are assembled at centromeres. I have been focusing on the regulation of the deposition of the centromere determinant, histone variant CENP-A, in mammalian tissue culture cells.
I've been characterizing the enzymatic activity of the Holliday junction resolvase SLX1-SLX4 in vitro. We looked at the substrate binding affinity as well as cutting specificity of various mutant or truncated forms of both yeast and human SLX1-4 complexes. This is a collaboration with Dr. Rui-Ming Xu.
I've been characterizing the kinetics of a family of CoA-ligase-encoding genes, Phls(phenylacetic acid-CoA ligases), from the penicillin-producing fugus Penicillium chrysogenum. We have characterized the kinetics of Phl family enzymes on various aromatic acids and fatty acids, using HPLC-based small molecule quantitation.
We produced a series of toxoid vaccines by purifing prokaryotically expressed pathogenic gene-encoding proteins from varous microorganisms and tested their protective effects after immuning mice.
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