Assembly of specialised chromatin at Fission Yeast Centromeres

Despite the conserved essential function of centromeres, centromeric DNA is not conserved between species. There is strong evidence indicating that centromeres are epigenetically regulated. Although centromeres normally assemble on preferred sequences, these sequences are neither necessary nor sufficient for centromere assembly. For instance, neocentromeres can form upon sequences that previously showed no centromere function. The presence of the histone H3 variant, CENP-A, is thought to be the epigenetic mark that specifies centromere identity. We aim to understand how CENP-A assembly is influenced by sequence and by chromatin context. Schizosaccharomyces pombe centromeres are composed of a central domain which is assembled in CENP-A chromatin and forms the kinetochore, flanked by the heterochromatic (H3K9me2) outer repeat regions. We have previously shown that heterochromatin is required for establishment of CENP-A chromatin, but not for its maintenance. Our analyses suggest that histone acetyltransferases and deacetylases influence CENP-A establishment. In addition, analysis of requirements for CENP-A establishment lead us to propose that a key property of central domain sequences is their ability to direct an environment of low quality pervasive transcription that is permissive for CENP-A chromatin establishment. Genome sequencing of three additional Schizosaccharomyces (S. octosporus, S. japonicus and S. cryophilus) species allowed partial assembly of putative centromere regions. In order to fully assemble the centromeres of these species we are employing PacBio sequencing of long reads in conjunction with analysis of CENP-A and H3K9me2 ChIP-seq to define chromatin domains. Intriguingly, although there is no homology between the centromere sequences of the four Schizosaccharomyces, the organization and architecture are similar. We are investigating the hypothesis that despite the lack of sequence conservation, the Schizosaccharomyces centromeres possess conserved properties that promote assembly of CENP-A chromatin and heterochromatin.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

University Scholar Series: Alison McKee

The Woman’s Film of the 1940s: Gender, Narrative, and History On February 25, 2015, Dr. Alison L. McKee spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Andy Feinstein at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Dr. McKee discussed her recent book, The Woman’s Film of the 1940s: Gender, Narrative, and History, which addresses the terrain between official public histories and private experiences of love, desire, and loss against the backdrop of World War II. McKee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Television, Radio, Film, and Theatre Arts at SJSU. She specializes in film history, theory and criticism, and gender issues. In particular, her interests include how gender and sexuality shape and inform narratives across different media.https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/uss/1021/thumbnail.jp

The Glass Ceiling in Europe: Why Are Women Doing Badly in the Labour Market?

Average gender pay gaps have absorbed the interest of economists for many years. More recently studies have begun to explore the degree to which observed gender wage gaps might differ across the wages distribution. The stylised facts from these studies, summarised in the first part of the paper, are that the gender pay gap in Europe is typically increasing across the wages distribution. This finding - more pronounced in the private than the public sector - has been interpreted as a glass ceiling effect. The existence of this glass ceiling suggests that the average gender pay gap in Europe is mainly due to the gender gap towards the top of the wages distribution. What explains these stylised facts? We briefly outline some relevant hypotheses in the second part of the paper. A fundamental challenge for labour economists is to identify the extent to which these stylised facts are due to policies and institutions, discrimination, to other unobservable factors, or to fundamental differences between men and women. Finally, we briefly summarise the policy initiatives that might be introduced to deal with gender wage gaps.gender, discrimination, glass ceilings, sticky floors, quantile regression decompositions

Gender and Competition

In almost all European Union countries, the gender wage gap is increasing across the wages distribution. In this lecture I briefly survey some recent studies aiming to explain why apparently identical women and men receive such different returns and focus especially on those incorporating psychological factors as an explanation of the gender gap. Research areas with high potential returns to further analysis are identified. Several examples from my own recent experimental work with Patrick Nolen are also presented. These try to distinguish between the role of nature and nurture in affecting behavioural differences between men and women that might lead to gender wage gaps.glass ceiling, experimental economics, personality differences, behaviour

Gender and Competition

In almost all European Union countries, the gender wage gap is increasing across the wages distribution. In this lecture I briefly survey some recent studies aiming to explain why apparently identical women and men receive such different returns and focus especially on those incorporating pyschological factors as an explanation of the gender gap. Research areas with high potential returns to further analysis are identified. Several examples from my own recent experimental work with Patrick Nolen are also presented. These try to distinguish between the role of nature and nurture in affecting behavioural differences between men and women that might lead to gender wage gaps.personality differences, experimental economics, glass ceiling

Applicant Attraction Strategies: An Organizational Perspective

Developing labor shortages are expected to increase the importance of applicant attraction into the next century. Unfonunately, previous research has provided little in the way of unified theory or operational guidelines for organizations confronted with attraction difficulties. In part, this is because much research has been framed from the applicant\u27s, rather than the organization\u27s, perspective. In addition, attraction-related theories and research are scattered across a variety of literatures, and often identified primarily with topics other than attraction per se (e.g., wage, motivation, or discrimination theories). The present paper draws on multiple literatures to develop a model of applicant attraction from the organization\u27s perspective. In it, we (1) outline three general strategies for enhancing applicant attraction, (2) propose broad categories of contingency factors expected to affect the choice (and potential effectiveness) of alternative strategies, (3) suggest probable interrelationships among the strategies, (4) link applicant attraction strategies to other human resource practices, (5) outline various dimensions of attraction outcomes (e.g. qualitative and quantitative, attitudinal and behavioral, temporal), and (6) discuss implications for future attraction research

Do Employers Discriminate by Gender? A Field Experiment in Female-Dominated Occupations

We test for gender discrimination by sending fake CVs to apply for entry-level jobs. Female candidates are more likely to receive a callback, with the difference being largest in occupations that are more female-dominated.discrimination, field experiments, employment, gender