The Yani lab's research revolves around studying dynamic systems including tumorigenesis, host-pathogen interactions, and embryonic development through the lens of global gene expression. Their research accomplishments include providing molecular evidence that embryogenesis is punctuated (rather than gradual) and that ventral enclosure is the nematode phylotypic stage (Dev. Cell 2012). Their lab proposed that endoderm was the first germ layer to evolve (Nature, 2015). Studying species from ten animal phyla we revealed a universal ‘mid-developmental transition’ during embryogenesis (Nature, 2016). They showed that developmental constraints underpin the phylotypic stage in nematodes (Nature Ecology and Evolution, 2017). In 2012, their lab published CEL-Seq, one of the first methods for single-cell RNA-Seq, and one that has been recognized as the most sensitive and robust. We recently published CEL-Seq2, a significant improvement. They also published the first integration of spatial transcriptomics with single-cell technology to create a tumor map (Nature Biotechnology, 2020). They revealed a catalog of cancer cell states that recur across tumor types and form specific interactions with the tumor microenvironment (Nature Genetics, 2022). Also, they recently discovered a mechanism – ‘transcriptional scanning’ – to explain the widespread gene expression present in the testis by reducing the germline mutation rate while enabling a select set of genes to diverge faster over evolutionary time-scales (Cell, 2020).
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Dr. Itai Yani
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Dr. Xuehua Zhong |
Dr. Xuehua Zhong is interested in how cellular machines sense intrinsic and extrinsic cues and alter chromatin landscapes to generate adaptive responses. Her group focuses on epigenetic regulation by exploring how chromatin dynamics is established, maintained, erased, and inherited over time, and how altered chromatin modifications lead to improved plant traits and environmental adaptation. They combine functional genomics and high-throughput proteomics and genomics techniques together with traditional genetic and biochemical tools to understand the function and mechanism of epigenetic processes and develop novel chromatin-based technology for biomass production and agricultural improvement.
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Sarah Petersen has used genetic techniques in a variety of model organisms to characterize the molecular mechanisms that set up a properly functioning nervous system. Currently, her research group uses zebrafish to understand the interactions between neurons and glia and their environments during neurodevelopment. Their work in this field is supported by a National Science Foundation CAREER Award.
Prior to Kenyon, Petersen was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Developmental Biology at Washington University at St. Louis. She has also taught in the Citizen Science Program at Bard College and served as a co-coordinator of the Zebrafish Development & Genetics Course at the Marine Biological Laboratory. |
Dr. Sarah Petersen |