Research

Funding:

GENTE_Pop

We have been extremely lucky (!) and the GENTE_Pop project to investigate the causes and consequences of natural transposition has been funded by an ERC Starting Grant !!!

What is this project about?: Jumping genes’, also known as transposable elements or transposons, are sequences of DNA that can ‘jump’ from one location on a genome to another. Originally identified in the 1950s by Barbara McClintock, we now know they are found in almost all organisms and make up about 50 % of the human genome. What these jumping genes do, if they do decide to jump, depends largely on where they land. They play an important role in genetic diversity and potential adaptation in response to environmental changes. However, studying natural jumping is difficult. The EU-funded GENTE_Pop project is exploiting the power of numbers. Evaluating large populations of experimental and wild-type plants will enable the analysis of jumping gene movements, elucidating their potential cause (environmental pressures) and effect (heritable changes leading to adaptive variation) (© European Union 2020; CORDIS, cordis.europa.eu).

Hiring!: In the context of GENTE_Pop we are hiring highly motivated and open-minded Postdocs to investigate the role of transposons in adaptation. Please visit positions available to learn more.

epiTOM

A collaborative project with Nicolas Bouche (IJPB INRAE) has been recently granted by the Agence National de la Recherche. epiTOM aims at exploiting experimental and natural epigenetic variation for tomato improvement. In particular, we will investigate the extent and molecular pathways underlying tomato epigenetic variation by generating genome-edited mutants impaired in DNA methylation homeostasis together with a comprehensive epigenomic characterisation of a broad panel of tomato cultivars.

Hiring!: In the context of epiTOM we are recruiting a postdoc with strong background in bioinformatics and epigenomics. Please visit positions available to learn more.