IGG students Robert Stolz and Maika Malig, published groundbreaking work describing the first modeling of so-called R-loop structures, the most abundant non-B DNA structures in mammalian genomes. Using a “first-principle” mathematical approach backed by experimental validation, the group from the Chedin and Benham labs at UC Davis elucidated the relative contributions of DNA sequence and DNA topology to R-loop formation.
When a healthy cell turns cancerous a cascade of events enables the cancer to spread throughout the body. But its origin lies within a single progenitor cell.
“What goes wrong with that particular cell?” asked Assistant Professor Chang-il Hwang, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. “Something happens at the molecular level. One DNA molecule, or one protein molecule changes.”
Marwa Zafarullah is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Integrative Genetics and Genomics (IGG) graduate program. She earned her bachelor’s in agricultural sciences at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan and her master’s in IGG at UC Davis. She is currently working toward the development of a biomarker for the early diagnosis and progression of the nNeurological disorder called Fragile X -Associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS).
Human activities alter and reduce phenotypic variation in many species, but the long-term consequences (e.g., ability of previous variation to reemerge), and thus the need for conservation action, are unclear.
