Kun Dou, PhDAssistant Professor

Transposons, also known as “jumping genes”, are the most abundant residents in almost all eukaryote genomes. Activation of transposons can lead to genome instability and may cause cancer. It was found that more than 75 human diseases can be caused by transposon integration. For example, retrotransposon LINE1 mobilizing into the genomic locus of APC or FVIII led to colon cancer or hemophilia, respectively. Therefore, it is essential to study how transposon invade host genome.

Dr. Dou’s group is using fruit fly as a major model organism to study the following mechanisms: 1) Transposon suppression by the host; 2) Transposon propagation in the host. We will exploit the advantages of fruit fly, including rich genetic resources, short life cycle, to facilitate our study and to uncover new mechanisms. We are also expecting to extend our knowledge in fruit fly to mammalian systems to better understand transposon regulation in mammals.