Current Research Description

Dr Oghumu’s laboratory studies X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) and its contribution to sex differences in susceptibility to disease. XCI is an epigenetic mechanism in females where one X chromosome is randomly chosen to be transcriptionally silenced, which serves to equalize gene dosage between male and female sexes. However, some X linked genes escape XCI, resulting in biallelic expression in females. Our research has shown that escape from XCI plays a major role in sex differences in susceptibility to infectious and autoimmune disease. We are extending these studies to determine how this epigenetic mechanism affects sex differences to neurologic and neoplastic diseases. Our recently funded NIH grant focuses on the contribution of XCI to sex differences in substance use disorder.

We have developed uniquely innovative mouse models and molecular approaches to study XCI. These include single cell RNA sequencing, CRISPR technology, bicistronic reporter mouse models, cell and molecular based assays. Long term, these innovative tools will be applied to study the underlying epigenetic mechanism of sex differences in other disease models. Exciting research projects in this area are available to graduate students.