Plant Genome Dynamics Lab

Dr. Jungnam Cho is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biosciences at Durham University in the UK. Prior to joining Durham in 2023, he worked as a group leader at the Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Science, jointly affiliated with the John Innes Centre and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, from 2018 to 2023. His academic journey began at Seoul National University, where he obtained his BSc in 2007 and later completed PhD in 2013. Following this, he pursued post-doctoral training at the University of Cambridge from 2013 to 2018. In his research laboratory here in Durham, he focuses on investigating 'jumping gene', which was discovered almost a century ago by Barbara McClintock, the Nobel laureate in 1983. These 'jumping genes', also known as transposons, were historically considered as useless or harmful genetic elements, often referred to as 'junk DNA'. However, it has become widely accepted that they play critical roles in genome evolution and the diversification of gene functions and activities. Particularly in plants, transposons have served as a primary source of (epi)genomic variations, contributing significantly to the development of important crop traits. His research ambitions are centred around unraveling the regulatory mechanisms underlying transposon activation and transposition. To achieve this, his lab employs multidisciplinary approach encompassing molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, and bioinformatics, and uses Arabidopsis and rice as model systems.

• 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 accepted 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!