Kathleen Collins, PhD

Presents: Harnessing R2 Retrotransposon Machinery and RNA-Only Delivery for Site-Specific Safe-Harbor Transgene Addition to the Human Genome

Host: Dr. Xiaoxia Cui

In person only:  Connor Auditorium

Abstract:  The Collins lab seeks to understand principles of eukaryotic non-LTR retrotransposon RNP structure, biochemical specificity, and genome insertion. We used non-LTR retrotransposon reverse transcriptase enzymes to improve sequencing of fragmented, modified, and/or damaged RNA and DNA. With funding from an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, we used our insights to engineer new methods for site-specific safe-harbor transgene addition to the human genome using RNA-only delivery.