Thawani Lab
Assistant Professor, Columbia University
Damon Runyon Fellow, UC Berkeley
Akanksha Thawani PhD
I am a molecular and structural biologist who enjoys investigating biological mechanisms using multidisciplinary approaches. In particular, I am using cryo-electron microscopy, biochemical and genetic tools to understand how the mobile genome functions and counteracts the host defense machinery.
Research Interests
My current research with Eva Nogales and Kathleen Collins focuses on understanding how retrotransposons, mobile elements that constitute a large fraction of the eukaryotic genomes, spread. Recently I have investigated the mechanism that the human LINE-1 retrotransposon and other vertebrate retrotransposons deploy to mobilize within our genomes.
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Previously, my graduate research with Sabine Petry and Howard Stone identified proteins and molecular mechanisms involved in the nucleation of microtubules, a class of cytoskeletal polymers.
Selected
Publications
(# corresponding author, * co-first authors)
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Thawani A#*, Rodriguez-Vargas A*, Van Treeck B, Hassan NT, Adelson DL, Nogales E, Collins K. Structures of vertebrate R2 retrotransposon complexes during target-primed reverse transcription and after second strand nicking. bioRxiv (2024). [pdf] [link]
Thawani A#, Florez-Ariza AJ, Nogales E, Collins KC. Template and target site recognition by human LINE-1 in retrotransposition. Nature (2024). [pdf] [link]