Project 22 - Joan Barau

This project aims at elucidating how transposon-induced DNA damage contributes to both normal and pathological development. We developed a system to induce transposable element activity in cultured cells and quantitatively and qualitatively characterize transposon-induced DNA damage. In combination with other genomic tools we will explore how transposon activity exposes fragility features of the mammalian genome and tips the balance between being physiological to normal development to having catastrophic consequences to genome stability.