B.S., Belmont Abbey College, Belmont, NC, 1981
M.S., University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, 1985
Ph.D., John Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 1993

Molecular Analysis of Epigenetic Regulation in Germ Cells
We use the genetic model system C. elegans to study how the "mother of all stem cells", the germ line, is established during embryogenesis and maintained during development. We have identified an "epigenetic erasure" process that separates pluripotent germ cells from somatic cells in the early embryo, and are studying epigenetic mechanisms that guard the germ cells during early development and regulate genomic activation. We also study how chromatin-based silencing mechanisms are targeted to large genomic regions, particularly the X chromosome, in adult germ cells. We have discovered imprinted X inactivation in C. elegans, and are using this as a model to analyze how genetic imprinting is established in gametogenesis. We have also recently identified mechanisms that silence unpaired DNA during meiosis, and are investigating how such mechanisms contribute to genome stability.