Postdoctoral Fellow
Ph.D. Indiana University (2011)
started in the lab Sept, 2011

Research Interests

My interest in meiosis began in graduate school, where I studied the effects of a mutation in the FHA domain of Nbs1 on meiotic recombination, using the mushroom Coprinus cinereus as a model system. Currently, I am interested in exploring how crossovers and noncrossovers arise from the same initiating event, DNA double-strand breaks. I am working on a project to eliminate both canonical mismatch repair and the lesser known short-patch mismatch repair. I will be able to detect heteroduplex DNA that is formed during meiotic recombination and then make hypotheses about how crossovers and noncrossovers arise from DSBs. Additionally, to ask questions about how gene conversion occurs, I am constructing compound chromosomes in which the arms of homologous chromosomes are attached to the same centromere. I can then do half-tetrad analysis and ask about the location and lengths of gene conversion tracts.

Publications from research in the Sekelsky Lab

• K.N. Crown and J. Sekelsky (2013) Gene targeting in Drosophila goes the distance. Genetics 193: 377-381.
   
• K.N. Crown, S. McMahan, and J. Sekelsky (2014) Eliminating both canonical and short-patch mismatch repair in Drosophila suggests a new meiotic recombination model. PLoS Genetics 10: e1004583.
   

Awards

• Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Postdoctoral Fellowship in Basic Sciences (2012-2013).
• NRSA postdoctoral fellowship (2013-2015).
• Best talk award, UNC Dept of Genetics and GMB Scientific Retreat at the Beach (2013).
• K99 Pathway to Independence grant (priority score of 14) from NIGMS (2016-2018).

Leadership Roles

• Co-Chair, Gordon-Kenan Research Seminar on Meiosis, 2014.