Van Wolfswinkel Lab
Principal Investigator: Josephina C Van Wolfswinkel
Institution: Yale University (New Haven, CT)
Primary Subfield: Molecular & Cell Bio
Recruitment Status: ✅ Accepting PhD Students ✅ Hiring Postdocs
Research Focus
PROJECT SUMMARY Non-coding RNA is an important regulator of gene expression and genomic stability. Such processes are particularly important in pluripotent stem cells where tight regulation of maintenance, division, differentiation, and (epi)genetic stability is crucial for a favorable outcome. Currently, there are major gaps in our understanding of how pluripotent stem cells are stably maintained long-term, or make the transition to differentiation. In our research program we leverage the in vivo study of a tightly controlled population of long- lived adult pluripotent cells, the neoblasts of the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea, to reveal the regulatory mechanisms surrounding pluripotency. This proposal concerns the role of non-coding RNA in the protection of the stem cell state, and the facilitation of the transition out of pluripotency during differentiation. We focus on the role of PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), and their binding partners the PIWI proteins. These small non-coding RNAs are essential for stem cell function, in particular in early embryos and regenerating animals. While piRNAs are best known for their silencing of transposable elements (TEs), we previously found…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R35GM158281-02: Non-coding RNA in stem cell biology (2026)
- 5R01AG078926-05: Role of transposon regulation in the negligible senescence of S. mediterranea (2026)
- 1R35GM158281-01: Non-coding RNA in stem cell biology (2025)
- 5R01AG078926-04: Role of transposon regulation in the negligible senescence of S. mediterranea (2025)
- 5R01AG078926-03: Role of transposon regulation in the negligible senescence of S. mediterranea (2024)
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