Description:

We are thrilled to be welcoming Dr. Jhumku Kohtz to speak at Lurie Children's Hospital! Dr. Kohtz is currently a research professor of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She has had a long-standing interest in studying RNA regulatory mechanisms in development. Her lab has focused on studying the mechanism of action of Evfs, novel long noncoding RNAs that regulate transcription factors essential for proper GABAergic interneuron development. Dr. Kohntz’s lab has recently been funded by the NIMH to study how long noncoding RNAs regulate enhancer-chromosomal interactions across megabase distances. They are addressing the biological significance of these RNA-mediated chromosomal interactions during interneuron development.