Sherrea Brown

Current Position:

Genetics PhD student at Tufts University

UT Research:

Analyzing copy number variation (CNV) data generated from zebrafish (Danio rerio).

During my time in the Dobrinski Lab I worked on analyzing copy number variation (CNV) data generated from zebrafish (Danio rerio). The goal of my research was to validate CNV regions within the zebrafish genome and investigate whether or not microRNAs, which are a type of small, non-coding RNA, can act as regulators of gene expression when CNV regions are present.

After graduating from The University of Tampa, I entered into a genetics PhD program at Tufts University. My thesis work is carried out at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, where I am working to identify the role that IFT81, which is a cilia related gene, plays in normal skeletal development and how its loss leads to skeletal dysplasias and other ciliopathy phenotypes. I am also working towards identifying more efficient methods of creating embryonic mouse models of congenital malformations using CRISPR mutagenesis.