BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

The Department of Biology has a strong community of labs that focus on various aspects of chromosome biology, such as gene regulation, DNA replication, chromosome segregation, chromosome structure, the DNA damage response, and genome integrity. To study chromosome biology, our labs employ a variety of model systems, including budding yeast, plants, worms, fruit flies, mice, as well as human cells. Our research focuses on how chromosomes have been duplicated in S phase and segregated through M phase, how DNA breaks promote crossovers in meiosis, how DNA damage has been repaired, the role of mutations in evolution, and how epigenetic chromatin modifications regulate the cell cycle, gene silencing, and cancer.