Dr. Lee received his Ph.D. in Genomics and Computational Biology in 2009, with Dr. Junhyong Kim at the University of Pennsylvania; was a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Antonio Giraldez at Yale University; and joined the Department in 2016.
Potential Ph.D. students interested in gene regulation, development, evo-devo and/or computational genomics are encouraged to apply here!
For most animals and plants, the genetic instructions that guide early embryogenesis are inherited as RNA. During a short window of development, these RNA coordinate all cellular activity, including the processes that induce the first rounds of transcription from the embryonic genome. Eventually those maternally inherited RNA are destroyed, as newly transcribed embryonic RNA assume control of the embryo. This period of development is called the maternal-to-zygotic transition.
Maternally inherited RNA encode the instructions to reprogram an egg into pluripotent embryonic stem cells, the precursors to all cell types in the adult organism. We study eggs, embryos, and their RNA and genomes to better understand the mechanisms underlying cellular identity and pluripotency, and how they have evolved. Our tool kit includes genetics, embryology, and high-throughput experimental and computational genomics across animals, including (so far) zebrafish, Xenopus, and the cnidarian Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus.