个人简介

My lab's research is aimed at understanding how cells accurately copy their genetic material, drawing on molecular and cell biology, genetics, and genomics as experimental approaches. Precise regulation and accuracy of this process are critical in preventing genome instability associated with cancer and other human genetic diseases. In both the classroom and research laboratory, I am excited to see students develop as scientific thinkers and practitioners. In my teaching and research mentoring, I hope to provide inspiration, real-world context, and diverse instructional approaches to address diverse learning styles. If you are a CSUSM undergraduate student looking to pursue research in molecular biology or a prospective Master's student, take a look through the website and contact me for opportunities in the lab!

研究领域

Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Maintenance of Genome Stability

The Big Questions Our genetic material is made up of DNA. Every time a cell divides, whether it's a cell in our body or a single bacterium, it needs to make an exact copy of all its DNA (or genome) to pass along. It turns out that some regions of DNA are more challenging to copy accurately than others. The Kim lab is broadly interested in these so-called "weak links" in our genome. One example of this is simple repetitive DNA, which all of us have. When some repetitive DNA sequences get too long (such as many copies of the triplet sequence CAG or CTG), they contribute to genetic diseases such as Huntington's Disease and Myotonic Dystrophy. We are interested in unraveling the molecular mechanisms of how these repetitive sequences increase in length. Relevance to Human Disease Myotonic dystrophy is one of over thirty human genetic diseases caused by the expansion of a simple DNA repeat sequence. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of repeat expansion will help shed light on how these diseases progress in humans and potentially offer genetic pathways to target for therapeutic treatment Our Favorite Model Organism We use the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae for our research, which is a powerful workhorse of molecular biology and genetics. ​Left: Dr. Kim preparing for the "Great Plate Race" at the 2012 Cold Spring Harbor Yeast Genetics and Genomics Summer Course

近期论文

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Kim J.C., Harris S.T.^, Dinter T.^, Shah K.A., and Mirkin S.M. The role of break-induced replication in large-scale expansions of (CAG)n/(CTG)n repeats. Nat Struct Mol Bio. 2017 Jan;24(1) 55-60. PMID: 27918542​ See related press coverage here. Kim J.C., and Mirkin S.M. Putting the Brakes on Huntington Disease in a Mouse Experimental Model. PLoS Genet. 2015 Aug 6;11(8). PMID: 26247607 Aksenova A.Y., Greenwell P.W., Dominska M., Shishkin A.A., Kim J.C., Petes T.D., and Mirkin S.M. Genome rearrangements caused by interstitial telomeric sequences in yeast. Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A. 2013 Dec 3;110(49):19866-71. PMID: 24191060 Kim J.C., and Mirkin S.M. The balancing act of DNA repeat expansions. Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2013 Jun;23(3):280-8. PMID: 23725800 Kim J.C. and Orr-Weaver T.L. Analysis of a Drosophila amplicon in follicle cells highlights the diversity of metazoan replication origins. Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A. 2011 Oct 4; 108(40): 16681-6. PMID: 21933960. Kim J.C., Nordman J, Xie F, Kashevsky H, Eng T, Li S, MacAlpine D.M., and Orr Weaver T.L. Integrative analysis of gene amplification in Drosophila follicle cells: parameters of origin activation and repression. Genes Dev. 2011 Jul 1; 25(13): 1384-98. PMID: 21724831