Join us for "Non-genetic modes of inheritance" a keynote presentation by Dr. Andy Yuan, Arts & Science - Biological Sciences MizzouForward faculty candidate.  Dr. Yuan will present on his research for approximately 40-minutes with a 20-minute question and answer session to follow.

Dr. Yuan grew up in the scorching deserts of Arizona before traveling to the frigid Northeast to pursue an education.  His scientific career began early during his time as a Harvard University undergraduate with studies of bacterial transcription and its regulation at Harvard Medical School (HMS).  During his Ph.D., his research interests shifted to prion biology, which he studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  This work culminated in his discovery of the first bacterial prion.  His interests in transcription and prions would coalesce to inform his ongoing studies of histone modification-based gene regulation at HMS.  This work has defined the minimal requirements for the epigenetic inheritance of silent chromatin domains.

Dr. Yuan’s laboratory will investigate non-genetic modes of inheritance that confer phenotypic heterogeneity upon populations of genetically identical cells.  Specifically, they will take an unconventional approach to studying domains of heterochromatin – which are characterized by histone and DNA modifications that close (or “silence”) regions of the genome to DNA transactions including transcription – by their reconstitution in the yeast S. cerevisiae.  Their research will provide unique insights into how histone modifications silence gene expression and how heterochromatin can be epigenetically inherited (i.e., inherited independently of underlying DNA sequence), processes central to organismal development and evolution.

You can access Dr. Yuan’s CV via OneDrive here:

 Yuan_CV.pdf (University log in required to access)

After the keynote, please provide candidate feedback with our brief survey.