معرفی
Dr. Jungnam Cho is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biosciences at Durham University. Previously, he served as a group leader at the CAS-JIC Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Sciences (2018–2023) after completing postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge (2013–2018). He holds a BSc (2007) and PhD (2013) from Seoul National University.
His research focuses on transposable elements ("jumping genes") in plants, exploring their roles in genome evolution, epigenetic regulation, and crop improvement. Using Arabidopsis and rice as models, his lab combines molecular biology, biochemistry, and computational tools to dissect transposon mobilization mechanisms. Key areas include RNA methylation, genome plasticity, and epitranscriptomics.
Recent grants include a BBSRC standard research grant (2025) and funding from the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation (2024). He supervises PhD students Ben Shone and Seunghui Mun, with additional training roles for interns and undergraduates. Collaborations extend to institutions like Zhejiang University and Fudan University.
Lab activities emphasize translational applications, such as enhancing crop genetic diversity and addressing global food security through epigenetic insights. Current projects include studies on bamboo epigenetic reprogramming and heat-activated retrotransposons in Arabidopsis.
