CBM Seminar Series – RNA-dependent Regulatory Functions of Transposons in Development and Disease

The College of Biomedicine was pleased to host Professor Nian Liu from the School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, as a distinguished speaker in the CBM Seminar Series on 30 March 2026. Professor Liu's research focuses on studying the regulation and function of transposons, often referred to as "genomic dark matter," and their critical roles in developmental processes and diseases.

In his talk entitled "RNA-Dependent Regulatory Functions of Transposons in Development and Disease", Professor Liu discussed the emerging roles of transposons, which constitute nearly half of the human genome and are often referred to as "genomic dark matter". Although transposons have been implicated in embryonic development, neurodevelopment, and various diseases, their regulatory mechanisms remain incompletely understood.

Professor Liu presented recent findings from his laboratory demonstrating that transposons can function as RNA-dependent cis-regulatory elements in developmental regulation. He described how SVA transposons regulate myeloid differentiation and hematopoietic aging through transcriptional control, how transcriptional activation of L1 transposons drives zygotic genome activation, and how L1 elements collaborate with SAFB and RNA polymerase II to establish chromatin topological boundaries. These discoveries highlight the central role of transposons in developmental processes and provide new insights into their contributions to human ageing and diseases.

The seminar stimulated active discussion and underscored the importance of understanding transposon biology in advancing research on development and related disorders.