Jake Lehle

Background

About Jake Lehle

Hello my name is Dr. Jake Lehle. I hold a Doctoral degree in Cell and Molecular Biology and have +3 years of hands-on NGS data generation and analysis experience and +5 years of wet lab experience. My academic scientific career has centered around an interest in understanding the mechanisms regulating cell identity. My dissertation project was focused on developing an in vitro cell culture system in which we could engage in higher-resolution studies to test the hypothesis that there would be cell type-specific susceptibilities to endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC)-induced epimutagenesis. I was interested in studying this topic because previous research had shown how EDC-induced epimutations that occurred during early development could disrupt the normal establishment of cell identity in many cell types and lead to the development of disease in tissues containing these cells that persisted over multiple generations but the underlying mechanism regulating this effect has yet to be fully determined. Using cell models, I confirmed there were cell type-specific EDC-induced epimutations that suggested the involvement of both classical and non-classical signaling mechanisms. Additionally, I was able to follow the fate of these EDC-induced epimutations through transitions in cell fate gaining insights into the potential mechanism allowing these epimutations to persist across multiple generations. These results from my doctoral thesis were drafted into a manuscript that was recently accepted for review by the journal eLife.