The Hayashi Group - Transposon Defence and Animal Development

We are interested in learning gene expression control mechanisms through the lens of host-transposon interaction and how they play roles in animal development.

label Research theme

Research themes

contact_support Contact
Dr Rippei Hayashi

About

Transposable elements, transposons, in short, are parasitic genetic elements present in every eukaryotic genome sequenced to date. Transposons thrive by increasing the copy number of their genome, the act of which threats the fitness of host organism by damaging the host genes or causing DNA damage. Therefore, the host organisms have acquired sophisticated defence mechanisms to silence the expression of transposon genomes. Notable examples include transcriptional repression via Zinc-Finger motif-containing proteins and Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA)-guided gene silencing.

The host is constantly exposed to the invasion of new transposons, hence the defence pathways are deemed to be highly adaptive, which creates an evolutionary pressure to invent novel gene expression regulations. We are interested in learning gene expression control mechanisms through the lens of host-transposon interaction and how they, in turn, play roles in animal development. We currently study several post-transcriptional RNA processing mechanisms that we recently identified by combining cutting-edge biochemical approaches and next-generation sequencing techniques in a model organism fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

We are recruiting students of all levels PhD/Honours/Masters/PhB. Potential research projects are listed on this page. Please feel free to contact us by email (rippei.hayashi@anu.edu.au) or come to our lab (The Genome Science Department, JCSMR) and talk about your interests as well as about our research.

Alumni

Ms Eloisa Pagler, Research assistant, 2018 - 2020

Ms Sejal Sathe, ANU Masters of biotechnology, 2018 - 2019

Mr Ali Afrasiabi, Research trainee, 2019 - 2020

Ms Rakshanya Sekar, Diploma student from Vellore Institute of Technology, 2019 - 2020

Ms Phuong Le, Undergraduate research project (phB), 2020

Mr Hyunjin Kim, Research assistant, 2021

Projects

Investigating the role of Spindle-E Zinc Finger motif in piRNA ping-pong biogenesis

Student intake

Open for Honours students

Status

Potential

People

We aim to molecularly characterise these newly emerging splicing regulations and to investigate their roles in non-germline tissues such as brain and muscles.

Student intake

Open for Bachelor, Honours, Masters, PhD students

Status

Current

People

We aim to identify the causative molecular defects to investigate the function of small RNA trimming outside of germline.

Student intake

Open for Bachelor, Honours, Masters, PhD students

Status

Current

People

We aim to anatomically and molecularly identify the causative defects in the somatic development of piRNA pathway mutant ovaries.

Student intake

Open for Bachelor, Honours, Masters, PhD students

Status

Current

People

We aim to genetically identify positive and negative interactors of hyrax to begin to unravel the function of Paf1 complex in the transposon defence in the germline.

Student intake

Open for Bachelor, Masters, PhD students

Status

Current

People

Members

Leader

Rippei Hayashi

Group Leader
Fellow

Research support officer

No photo provided

Research Assistant

Member

Visitor

Shashwat Kaushal

Campus Visitor

Student

Shashank Chary

PhD Student

Amy Chen

Honours Student

No photo provided

PHD Student

Letian Hong

Honours Student

News

Dr Rippei Hayashi and Shashank Chary

A study by Dr Rippei Hayashi's lab revealing the loss of the universal ping-pong cycle in Drosophila eugracilis raises evolutionary questions about how organisms regulate 'jumping genes' they host.

Read the article