Jane Rosen, B.A., Biology,
Columbia University, New York, NY
M.D./Ph.D. Student in Immunology
E-mail: jane.rosen@tufts.edu

I am studying the sequences with the immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) locus to explore the mechanisms controlling the way antibody genes are assembled. This process, which is fundamental to B cell development involves the joining of V, D, and J segments at particular points in development. I am testing the idea that changes in accessibility of the different gene segments affects the way in which recombination occurs. I plan to use DNase I hypersensitive sites within the locus to guide my analysis and hope to examine physical interactions across the locus between DNA segments that are separated by large distances.