Mentor Areas
Nearly half of the genome is made up of transposons; ancient viruses that invaded our cells millions of years ago but appear mostly dormant today. They have long been regarded as "Junk DNA", but they are anything but. During development, aging and disease, these seemingly useless genomic relics "reactivate" for species specific and essential functions. The Modz Lab hopes to use biochemistry, genetics, genomics, comparative biology and advanced CRISPR/CAS9 technologies to first understand transposons in development, and apply this knowledge for when they go haywire later in disease.
Description:
The Modzelewski Lab at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Biomedical Sciences School of Veterinary Medicine is recruiting undergraduate students to join an exciting new NIH-NICHD and Regenerative Medicine funded project. Our work focuses on understanding the exciting and emerging role of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs and retrotransposons) in early development, health, and disease, like cancer and neurodegeneration.
The lab has two major but linked focuses: Developmental Biology & Genome Editing.
Nearly half of all mammalian genomes originate from ancient retroviral integrations. While silenced in nearly all cells, retrotransposon reactivation is a well-known phenomenon in preimplantation embryos and the germline. Disruptions made in the lab have impacted fundamental biological process, leading to arrested development and implantation defects that resembles human pregnancy complications (Cell 2021). This highly collaborative project adapts proteomics, genetics, bioinformatics and CRISPR/Cas9 editing to reveal this overlooked but essential form of regulation in development, fertility, and disease.
As no current cell culture system faithfully represents the preimplantation development, the majority of research at this stage must be done directly in the embryo, and sometimes animal models are necessary. Even with CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, generating mouse models is cost prohibitive and largely inaccessible. Therefore, I developed CRISPR-EZ (CRISPR Electroporation of Zygotes) and showed it is least 3-4x more efficient than the gold standard of microinjection, is inexpensive, works in all species tested, but there is still room to improve (JBC 2016, Nature Protocols 2018, JOVE 2022). Efforts include the use of AAV, CRISPRa/i (activation/interference), and humanized models to study conserved regulatory networks.
Preferred Qualifications
- Students majoring in biological sciences as well as bioengineering, biostatistics, etc.
- Previous mouse handling experience is a plus but not essential.
- Computational background or familiarity with Data Analysis is strongly encouraged.
- Ideal candidate should be highly motivated and passionate about biology, development, expecting the unexpected and are not afraid to challenge assumptions.
Project Website
Learn more about the researcher and/or the project here. The Modz Lab
Details:
Preferred Student Year
Second-Year, Junior, Senior
Academic Term
Summer
I prefer to have students start during the above term(s).Volunteer
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to volunteers.Paid
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to paying students they engage in their research, regardless of their work-study eligibility.Work Study
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to hiring work-study-eligible students.