Plant Genome Dynamics Lab

Dr Jungnam Cho is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford and a Tutorial Fellow at The Queen’s College, Oxford. He also serves as the Principal Investigator of the ERC Consolidator Research Programme MOBICODE. Dr Cho earned his BSc (2007) and PhD (2013) from Seoul National University, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Sainsbury Laboratory in the University of Cambridge (2013–2018). He subsequently built his independent research group at the CAS-JIC Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Sciences (2018–2023) and worked as an Associate Professor at Durham University (2023–2026) before moving to Oxford. His research group investigates the molecular mechanisms of transposable elements (TEs) in plant genomes. Historically dismissed as genomic dark matter, TEs are increasingly recognized as powerful catalysts for genetic variation, phenotypic diversity, and rapid environmental adaptation. The Cho Lab seeks to decode how plants dynamically modulate and silence mobile elements. To do this, the team employs a highly interdisciplinary approach combining molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry and computational biology across species ranging from Arabidopsis to rice. Ultimately, this research aims to uncover fundamental principles governing host-transposon co-evolution while pioneering novel biotechnological pathways to enhance crop climate resilience and safeguard global food security.

• 08/2026: An ERC-funded five-year postdoc position is available in the lab. More information can be found HERE. CLOSED

• 08/2026: Thomas Green-Plumb is joining the lab as an MPhil student, welcome Tom!

• 08/2026: The Cho Lab is making another leap transposing to Oxford.

• 06/2026: Dr Schneider attended and gave a talk in the SPS Summer School held in Paris.

• 02/2026: In RNA UK 2026, Ben and Seunghui gave talks, and Aidana presented a poster. Well done.

• 01/2026: Reo Kageyama joined the lab as a Master student.

• 12/2025: 🎉The Cho Lab is awarded an ERC Consolidator grant.

• 10/2025: Li Yao from Huazhong Agriculture University is visiting the lab.

• 10/2025: 🥂Seunghui's review paper is accepted in Quantitative Plant Biology

• 09/2025: 🥂Ben's review on NGD is published in BMC Plant Biology

• 09/2025: Dr Michele Schneider is joining the group as a postdoc, welcome Michele!

• 09/2025: Giulia Pignone from University of Pavia is visiting the lab for a short-term research internship, welcome Giulia!

• 08/2025: Seunghui gave a talk in EKC2025 held in Vienna, great job!

• 08/2025: 🥂Huihui's paper is accepted in PNAS

• 06/2025: Aidana Kulenova joins the lab as a PhD student. Welcome Aidana!

• 06/2025: We are recruiting a postdoc! Find more information HERE. CLOSED

• 06/2025: Dr Jungnam Cho receives the CAS PIFI visiting scholar award.

• 05/2025: 🎉The Cho Lab is awarded a BBSRC standard research grant.

• 05/2025: Joshua Amor and Ziheng Zhang join the group as summer intern students, Welcome both!

• 04/2025: 🥂Review on RNA methylation by Bas is published in Trends in Genetics

• 03/2025: Lingfeng Wu joins the group for MDS research project, welcome Lingfeng.

• 02/2025: 🎉The Cho Lab is awarded The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Grant.

• 10/2024: Julene Pelayo-Dominguez joins the group for UG research project, welcome Julene!

• 09/2024: ALE-seq in bamboo, a collaborative work with Zhejiang University, is just out in New Phytologist

• 08/2024: 🎉Benjamin Shone is awarded the BBSRC NLD DTP PhD studentship, congratulations! Ben is starting his PhD in October 2024.

• 06/2024: Anna-Sara Biacsi and Hattie Baker join the lab as summer intern students. Welcome Anna and Hattie!

• 05/2024: 🥂Review on TE mimicry by Jie is published in Plant and Cell Physiology

• 04/2024: 🎉Seunghui Mun receives the Durham Doctoral Studentship, congratulations! She is coming from Korea and will start her PhD in October.

• 04/2024: Taran Khan and Pengxia Gao join the lab as MDS students. Welcome Taran and Pengxia!

• 01/2024: Tom Levy joins the lab as an undergraduate research assistant. Welcome Tom!

• 12/2023: 🥂RNA deadenylation study by Ling and Hui is published in New Phytologist

• 12/2023: Collaboration on m6A RNA methylation with Professor Chanhong Kim is published in Plant Cell

• 11/2023: 🥂The paper by Wenwen, Ling, Zhen, Hui, Jie is finally accepted in Science Advances

• 11/2023: Collaborative work with Professor Yijing Zhang in Fudan University is published in Nature Communications

• 10/2023: Josephine Newman joins the lab for level 3 research project. Welcome Josephine!

• 08/2023: The Cho Lab re-opens in Durham!