jlandry@bccrc.ca

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Department:	Terry Fox Laboratory (@ the BCCRC since 1998)
Research Role:	Graduate Student/Postdoctoral Fellow Alumnus
Education:	BSc (Biology), McGill University, 1998 PhD (Genetics), University of British Columbia, 2003
Birthplace:	L'Orignal, Ontario, Canada
Phone:	604-877-6070 ext.3030

Research Interests:

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) and other Long Terminal Repeat (LTR)-containing elements comprise 8% of the human genome and are likely vestiges of retroviral infections during primate evolution. Many of the HERVs present in humans have retained functional promoter, enhancer and polyadenylation signals and these regulatory sequences have the potential to modify the expression of nearby genes.

The overall objective of my doctoral research was to investigate endogenous retroviruses that participate in the regulation of human genes by providing alternative promoters. My work has illustrated the siginificance and contribution of three HERV-E LTRs in the expression of the human genes apolipoprotein C1, endothelin B receptor and Mid1. The results of my studies provide further evidence that some endogenous retroviruses have evolved a biological function by contributing transcriptional regulatory elements to human genes.