Author Archives: makerr

McKay Lab Discovers New Details of Gene Regulation

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Daniel McKay, PhD

Genes make up the blueprints and outline the process of building every living organism.

To ensure that the right genes are activated in the right cells, and in the right amounts at the right time, genes are constantly being regulated by small molecular machines made of proteins. When gene regulation fails, or specific genes are altered through mutation, the body is more predisposed to diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, and autoimmune disorders.

Now, for the first time in animals, the IBGS-supported lab of Daniel McKay, PhD, Associate Professor of Biology in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences and of Genetics at the UNC School of Medicine, has identified a crucial focal point in the regulatory processes that govern cell identity.

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Dr. Wonho Kim Awarded New R35 from NIGMS

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Wonho Kim, PhD

Wonho Kim, PhD, Assistant Professor of Genetics and IBGS faculty member, received a new R35 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) for his project titled “Deciphering the Stepwise Regulatory Mechanisms of Genome Folding”.

The three-dimensional folding of the genome facilitates interactions between distal genomic regions, playing roles in gene transcription, DNA damage repair and DNA replication. Dysregulation of genome folding has been linked to various diseases, including cancer and developmental disorders. This proposal aims to elucidate the regulatory mechanisms of genome folding in living cells. Using genetic approaches, we will identify new factors involved in genome folding and determine the specific process within the genome folding regulated by these factors. Collectively, our studies aim to unveil novel molecular mechanisms governing genome folding, offering a deeper understanding of its contributions to disease states.

Dr. Parul Johri Awarded New R35 from NIGMS

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Parul Johri, PhD

Parul Johri, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biology and Genetics and IBGS faculty member, received a new R35 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) for her project titled “Jointly modeling the effects of evolutionary processes on genomic variation”.

The work will result in a better understanding of how natural selection shapes genomic variation, as well as the development and application of methods that jointly account for multiple evolutionary processes. The first goal will be to generate a better estimate of the shape of the genome-wide fitness effects of new mutations. As lower rates of recombination result in stronger effects of selection, the second goal is to better understand how selection against deleterious mutations affects genome-wide patterns of variation in species that undergo high rates of self-fertilization and to develop methods that account for the effects of selection. The third goal is to apply methods to perform inference of demography and identification of recent selective sweeps in species with compact genomes, like those of Plasmodium falciparum and vivax.

Using AI, Researchers Launch Database to Predict Cancer DNA Anomalies

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Elizabeth Brunk, PhD

UNC-Chapel Hill researchers have launched a database called CytoCellDB to address a significant gap in cancer research, particularly focusing on extrachromosomal DNA, they explain in their paper, “CytoCellDB: A Resource Database for Classification and Analysis of Extrachromosomal DNA in Cancer,” published in Nucleic Acids Research (NAR) Cancer.

“CytoCellDB provides researchers with an invaluable tool to understand which commonly used cancer cell lines contain ecDNA and other chromosomal aberrations,” said Dr. Elizabeth Brunk, senior and corresponding author of the paper, IBGS faculty member, and an assistant professor in the Departments of Pharmacology and Chemistry. “CytoCellDB represents a significant step toward understanding ecDNA, paving the way to more effective treatments and improved outcomes for over 15% of cancers that harbor ecDNA.”

Extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) alters how cells divide, express RNA and respond to drug treatments. Without knowing which model systems contain ecDNA, researchers cannot fully understand why some cells respond differently to drugs. EcDNA, also known as double-minute chromosomes, are established markers for malignancy and genome instability, playing a crucial role in cancer proliferation, drug resistance and epigenetic remodeling, which are changes in gene expression that don’t involve alterations in the DNA sequence itself.

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2024 SMBE Early-Career Excellence Award Winner: Parul Johri

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Parul Johri, PhD

Parul Johri, IBGS faculty member and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology and the Department of Genetics, has been awarded this year’s Early Career Excellence Award from the Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBE), the top young investigator award in her field of research.

This award is intended for outstanding members of the SMBE community who are in the early stages of an independent research career (3-7 years post-Ph.D.). The primary signal of research excellence is a trajectory of innovative, creative research that is moving the field of Molecular Biology and Evolution forward. The prize includes recognition at the annual SMBE banquet, a cash prize, and a travel award to attend the annual meeting.

The Johri Lab focuses on how non-adaptive evolutionary processes, including selection against deleterious mutations, population history, and genome architecture, act to jointly shape genomic variation. Research in the lab involves a combination of computational and theoretical approaches, statistical method development, and analyses of sequence variation data from natural populations. Parul received her Bachelor’s in Mathematics from Delhi, and a Master’s in Biology from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India. She earned her PhD in the Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior program at Indiana University, Bloomington, under the supervision of Michael Lynch in 2018, and completed her postdoctoral work with Jeffrey Jensen at Arizona State University (2018-2022). Parul started her lab at UNC in 2023.

Learn more about the SMBE and past award recipients.

Copenhaver receives NSF Breakthrough Technology Award to enhance food security

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Greg Copenhaver

IBGS faculty member and Biology Professor Gregory Copenhaver has received a Breakthrough Technology Award from the National Science Foundation.

The awards fund research aimed at advancing functional genomics and crop breeding.

With more than 7 ½ billion people on the planet, agriculture enterprise is looking for ways to combat issues related to increasing instances of drought, flood, pests and disease, and that’s at the root of the “high-risk, high-reward” fundamental research in these new Breakthrough Technologies awards.

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Why a Fly?

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Endeavors, the online magazine of research and creative activity at UNC, recently featured the work of Dr. Bob Duronio and iBGS.

Bob Duronio

The genome of a fruit fly is strikingly similar to that of a human — so much so that scientists have been studying these tiny insects for over 100 years, in search of treatments for diseases like spinal muscular atrophy and neurological disorders. UNC geneticist Bob Duronio is one of those scientists.

“It begins with curiosity. Curiosity about a process. And then a question about that process. And then a hypothesis that will lead to an experiment that will provide results and data to interpret. What I love about this process is that my hypotheses are often wrong. And that’s really exciting — because no human being is smart enough to understand biology at a level of molecular detail where their hypotheses are always right.”

-Bob Duronio, director of the Integrative Program for Biological and Genome Sciences

“Beautiful.”

Robin Armstrong adjusts the focus on her dissecting microscope. Iridescent ovals float in the ether, clumped together, stark against a black backdrop. They look like the little, individual fibers that comprise the flesh of a grapefruit — long and plump and juicy. Though this grape-shaped bunch is far from produce, it’s fitting that they belong to a fruit fly. Armstrong is examining its ovaries.

Read the full article from Endeavors