Sylvia Tang

Program: Molecular Genetics and Genomics

Current advisor: Jennifer E. Phillips-Cremins, PhD

Undergraduate university: University of Pennsylvania, 2023

Enrollment year: 2024

Research summary
Understanding how the neuronal 3D genome directs DNA damage and repair mechanics

Post-mitotic neurons perform a variety of functions including sending electrical signals via action potentials. These electrical impulses have been shown to lead to the rapid transcription of immediate early genes, a process that is accompanied by a double-stranded break in the promoters of these genes. While prior work has shown that DNA repair factors are recruited to these local sites of damage, it is unknown how neurons are able to coordinate local DNA damage and repair. My work aims to understand how the 3D genome organizes these complex processes to maintain genomic integrity over a lifetime.

Graduate publications