CSB Faculty Candidate Seminar: Akanksha Thawani, PhD, Wednesday, January 29, 10 AM, Munzer!
Faculty Candidate Seminar
Akanksha Thawani, Ph.D.
UC Berkeley
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Pacific Time)
Munzer Auditorium
Talk Title: “Genetic Architects: How Retrotransposons Craft Our Genomes”
Talk Abstract: The spread of mobile genetic elements regulates our lifespan, physiology and drives our genome evolution. Retrotransposons are highly abundant mobile elements in eukaryotes, which propagate through a copy-and-paste mechanism. Despite their prevalence, the molecular mechanisms underlying retrotransposon propagation have remained unknown due to challenges in biochemical characterization. My research focuses on unraveling the molecular and structural basis of how retrotransposons spread. I will present my work in understanding how LINE-1 retrotransposon spreads within the human genome, a gene that has stunningly created nearly one-third of the human genome and has intricately shaped human biology.
Retrotransposons also hold the key to developing programmable genome insertion technologies that do not rely on donor DNA, offering a new and safer approach for gene therapy. I will present recent cryo-EM structures that allow us to understand how site-specific retrotransposons from vertebrate genomes mobilize. I will discuss ongoing efforts to harness vertebrate retrotransposons for transgene insertion in human cells.