Edwards, Samantha
Samantha is in the Gene Regulation home area of the MBIDP. She joined the CMB training program in 2015. Her research mentor is Dr. Tracy Johnson. She received a B.S. degree in 2013 from UC San Diego.
Mentor: Dr. Tracy Johnson
Pre-mRNA splicing is a principal step in gene expression in which non-coding sequences are removed from pre-mRNA to produce a mature RNA product. Pre-mRNA splicing occurs cotranscriptionally, while RNA polymerase and the nascent pre-mRNA are still associated with chromatin. Our lab is interested in understanding how the chromatin environment affects the process of pre-mRNA splicing. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae Swr1 complex remodels chromatin by replacing the canonical histone H2A with the histone variant H2AZ. My project is focused on studying how the function of the Swr1 chromatin remodeling complex affects pre-mRNA splicing.
