Professor Froekjaer Jensen's lab studies genome organization and epigenetic gene regulation using C. elegans as a model system. Specifically, our research will focus on three main areas:
(1) How can non-coding DNA structures prevent epigenetic silencing? We aim to understand the genetic and mechanistic basis for how a class of non-coding DNA (named PATCs) prevents epigenetic silencing and their interaction with small RNA pathways.
(2) Which gene features enable expression from repressive chromatin? We will use high-throughput methods to identify: (a) sequence features in enhancers and promoters that tune their expression to their chromatin environment, (b) genomic regions where gene silencing is developmentally regulated, and (c) gene structures (e.g. intron position and content) that regulate expression.
(3) Development of high-throughput genome editing technologies. We are developing genome editing tools using transposons and Cas9/CRISPR. The long-term goal is to enable genome-scale manipulation for arbitrarily complex re-organization and re-coding of the C. elegans genome. These tools will allow us, and others, to use Synthetic Biology approaches to answer questions about genome structure and function.