Jonathan Cahn Email & Phone Number

I have been fascinated by genetics since I saw some translucent liquid in an eppendorf tube and my supervisor told me: here is DNA! Now, my research focuses on plant epigenetics - this extra layer of information that registers and/or regulates the transcription state of surrounding genes. During my PhD I studied the proteins involved in recognizing DNA methylation in the model plant Arabidopsis. I learned a plethora of molecular experiments to interrogate the chromatin state as well as how to analyse these datasets. In my postdoc, I have extended my bioinformatic knowledge to create a pipeline that integrates these different types of epigenomic data, with a focus on the evolution of enhancer elements in maize and through its domestication process from teosinte - the MaizeCode project. I am interested in anything related to the epigenetic field, whether at the bench, in the field or behind a computer, and at all scales possible - molecular, single-cell or population-wide. I have for example been involved in helping optimize ChIP-seq protocols for economically important species such as grapevine buds, in developping new sequencing technologies for studying recombination at a single-cell level, as well as analyzing datasets to understand transposable elements control in the centromere.Primarily interested in understanding these mechanisms involved in most cells and organisms, from plants to humans, it is always more motivitating when the research can then be applied to improve the living conditions of people who need it the most, in a respectful way for the planet.