KRISTEN W. LYNCH, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics

909B Stellar-Chance Labs
422 Curie Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6059
(215) 573-7749 (office)
(215) 215-573-7756 (lab)
klync@mail.med.upenn.edu

B.A. Harvard University (1990)
Ph.D. Harvard University (1996)

DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Recent insight into the human genome has revealed that most genes encode multiple distinct protein isoforms through the process of alternative pre-mRNA splicing. My laboratory is focused on understanding the biochemical mechanisms and regulatory networks that control alternative splicing in response to antigen-challenge of the human immune system. Recently we have identified ~150 genes that exhibit an alteration in isoform expression in response to T cell stimulation. Through our initial work on the regulated splicing of the protein tyrosine phosphatase CD45, we have identified the regulatory sequence, proteins that controls activation-induced isoform expression of CD45 as well as exons in several other genes essential for T cell function. This work is on-going as we seek to understand the mechanism of this regulation at molecular and atomic detail. We are also expanding our focus to include additional networks of co-regulated splicing events in T cells. Together these studies are providing new insights into the mechanisms and consequences of RNA-based gene regulation in the cellular response to environmental stimuli.