About

In my graduate work in the Bennett Lab at Brown University, I discovered phenotypic switching and sexual mating in the pathogenic yeast Candida tropicalis, identifying transcriptional regulators and new regulatory pathways. My recent and future work focuses on the molecular mechanisms of the RNA modification N6-methyladenosine (m6A). My postdoctoral work in the Johnson Lab at University of Colorado has studied the role of m6A in regulation of the long noncoding RNA HOTAIR in breast cancer. My studies discovered a single key site of m6A modification that enables HOTAIR’s ability to associate with chromatin, repress target genes, and mediate cancer growth and invasion. The importance of a single m6A site with such impactful function is unique in lncRNA biology. This work pioneers the investigation of m6A function in HOTAIR, prompting many new questions.

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As a principal investigator, I will expand upon my exciting discovery that mutation of a single m6A site in HOTAIR creates an antimorph that induces opposite changes in gene expression. I will study how HOTAIR m6A regulates the HOTAIR interactome and phase separated subnuclear structures. As a second area of research, I will capitalize on my combined expertise in pathogenic Candida species and m6A biology. I have developed new collaborations that have identified a role for the m6A methyltransferase IME4 in the Candida albicans parasexual cycle, regulating processes involved in colonization and infection of the human host. My preliminary gene expression and m6A mapping analyses in this system provide a foundation for studies on RNA modifications in C. albicans. I am the sole expert in this novel combined field of study.