Chi-Yun Pai

Department: Biology
Academic Unit: College of Science
Title: Assistant Professor
Professional degrees: Ph.D

Contact Information

Mail Stop: 314
Phone: 775-784-1932
Fax: 775-784-1302
e-mail: paicy@unr.edu
http://www.unr.edu/biology/pai.htm

Research Interests

The goal of our research is to understand mechanisms underlying the eukaryotic gene expression in the cell nucleus. We currently focus on a class of cis-regulatory elements called Chromatin Insulator or Boundary Element. This class of elements widely exists in eukaryotes from yeast to human and is proposed to organize genome into expression domains. We are using the gypsy insulator in Drosophila melanogaster as our model system to study the mechanisms through which chromatin domain boundaries and higher order structures are established and regulated. We use a combination of the powerful Drosophila genetics and the molecular cell biology tools as our approaches. In addition, we are developing techniques of genomic approaches to determine the distribution of chromatin insulators in a genome-wide scale.

Current Graduate Students:
Daniel Oliver

Selected Publications

The centrosomal protein CP190 is a component of the gypsy chromatin insulator.
Mol Cell. 2004 Dec 3;16(5):737-48. Pai CY, Lei EP, Ghosh D, Corces VG.

 

Protein phosphatase 2A activity affects histone H3 phosphorylation and transcription in Drosophila melanogaster.
Mol Cell Biol. 2003 Sep;23(17):6129-38. Nowak SJ, Pai CY, Corces VG.

 

The nuclear pore complex and chromatin boundaries.
Trends Cell Biol. 2002 Oct;12(10):452-5.