Saloni Dhopte, a graduate student in Genetics, Genomics, and Development (GGD), has joined both the Cohen and Danko Labs.

Saloni will be studying the mechanisms of transcriptional regulation and chromatin dynamics during spermatogenesis. Throughout spermatogenesis, the chromatin landscape undergoes significant transformations: spermatogonial stem cells proliferate, differentiate into spermatocytes, transition to haploid round spermatids, and finally develop into mature sperm with highly condensed chromatin. Saloni’s research will focus on bromodomain proteins and their role in activating the various meiotic transcriptional programs. She plans to use cutting-edge -omics approaches to uncover how these proteins regulate gene expression during sperm development.