报告时间：2014年7月22日上午10:00
报告地点：标本楼506会议室
报告题目: 纤毛虫模式生物中的表观遗传学研究
报告人：Yifan Liu（刘一凡），University of Michigan
报告人简历：
Yifan Liu. Research Assistant Professor, Pathology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
Education, Postdoctoral Training and Academic Appointments:
1991-1996, BS, Peking University Health Center, Beijing, China;
1996-1997, Purdue University, IN;
1997-2003, PhD, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY;
2003-2007, Postdoctoral Fellow, Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY;
2007-2013, Research Investigator, Pathology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI;
2013-present, Research Assistant Professor, Pathology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI;
Research Profile:
Over the last two decades, phenomenal progress has been made in the chromatin field, establishing histone modifications as a principal factor in epigenetic regulation. Research in Tetrahymena, an unicellular eukaryotic model organism, has contributed significantly to this progress, exemplified by the characterization of the first nuclear histone acetyltransferase GCN5, and the establishment of molecular connections between RNAi and heterochromatin formation. Working with Tetrahymena, Dr. Yifan Liu started in chromatin biology research as a graduate student in the laboratory of Martin Gorovsky at University of Rochester, and continued as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of David Allis at the Rockefeller University. Now in his own laboratory at University of Michigan, Dr. Liu mainly focuses on functional studies of histone H3 lysine 27 methylation, in the mono-, di-, and tri-methylation forms (H3K27me1/2/3). H3K27me2/3 has long been associated with heterochromatin formation and transcription repression, as evident in the function of Drosophila Polycomb group proteins. In Tetrahymena, a specialized RNAi-dependent Polycomb repression pathway is involved in transcriptional silencing of transposable elements, developmentally regulated genome rearrangement, and trans-generational transfer of epigenetic information. In a clear division of labor, Tetrahymena TXR1, homologous to Arabidopsis ATXR5/ATXR6, is exclusively required for H3K27me1 and important for replication elongation. These findings shed light on conserved pathways for transcription and replication regulation, as well as molecular mechanisms coordinating the duplication of genetic and epigenetic information.
Dr. Liu regularly serves as ad-hoc reviewer for journals such as Current Biology, PLoS Genetics, Genes & Development, Nucleic Acids Research and Gene, and was also active in writing and publishing his studies in journals such as PNAS, Genes & Development, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Molecular & Cellular Proteomics and RNA.
