The Cai lab focuses on understanding how the transcription process is regulated in normal and cancer cells. We are intrigued by the discoveries in our lab that many transcription factors involved in cancers can form small, liquid-like condensates in...
RNA metabolism dysfunction and RNA-targeting therapy in neurodegeneration The nervous system has extremely complex RNA processing regulation. Dysfunction of RNA metabolism has emerged to play crucial roles in multiple neurological diseases. Mutations and pathologies of several RNA-binding proteins are...
Understanding how the information in the genome is utilized is one of the central questions in modern biology. It has become clear that a critical level of gene regulation occurs through the chemical modification of both the DNA itself...
Understanding the cell biology of genomes and how nuclear architecture controls gene expression is necessary to truly understand biological processes such as development and disease. Although sequencing of the genome and comparative genome analysis have yielded insights into the...
We study the structure and function of the cell nucleus, ‘mothership’ of the human genome. We seek to understand how nuclear envelope (NE) membrane proteins interact with nuclear intermediate filament (‘lamina’) networks and other partners to collectively establish, protect...
Our research seeks to better understand dynamical biological processes, such as embryonic development and brain activity, by recording cells’ experiences in their genomes. To accomplish this objective, we develop: (A) molecular technologies that write cellular experiences into their nucleic...
