Title: Breaking symmetry—Asymmetric epigenetic inheritance during Drosophila germline stem cell asymmetric division

Time: 10:00 AM of Oct. 17

Location: Room 601，Institute of Genetics and Cytology

Many types of stem cells undergo asymmetric cell divisions to give rise to daughter cells with distinct cell fates: one that retains stem cell identity and another that differentiates. During asymmetric cell division, the genomic information is preserved through DNA replication followed by equal partition to the two daughter cells. A long-standing question has been how the epigenetic information of a stem cell is transferred to the daughter cells. Using the Drosophila male germline stem cell lineage, Dr. Chen, Xin’s group recent studies showed that epigenetic information is inherited asymmetrically during asymmetric stem cell divisions.

Dr. Chen, Xin is currently affiliated as Associate Professor in Biology Department at Johns Hopkins University. She had more than 20 years of training in fly genetics, molecular and cell biology. Her research has resulted in a number of high impact publications in internationally recognized journals including the Science , Cell, Genes and Development , Cell Research, PLoS Genetics, Cell Death & Differentiation, Trends in Cell Biology.