Alexei Aravin

Alexei A. Aravin is Professor of Biology in the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. He earned a B.S. in 1997, M.Sc. in 1998, and Ph.D. in 2002 from the University of Moscow. His early career included postdoctoral fellowships at the Rockefeller University from 2004 to 2006 and at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory from 2006 to 2008, followed by a senior fellowship at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory from 2008 to 2009. Aravin joined Caltech as Assistant Professor in 2009 and advanced to Professor in 2016.

Aravin's research specializes in the biogenesis and function of small non-coding RNAs, particularly PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), which defend animal germ cells against transposable elements through transcriptional repression and post-transcriptional silencing. His laboratory examines the assembly and function of nuage, a subcellular compartment with liquid-droplet properties essential for piRNA production, and the connections between RNA- and chromatin-based epigenetic mechanisms. The group also studies Argonaute proteins in bacteria to uncover the evolutionary origins of RNAi pathways and harnesses bacterial RNAi for genome and epigenome engineering. Aravin's prior discoveries elucidated piRNAs' protective role against transposon mutations. He has received the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Faculty Scholar award in 2016, David and Lucile Packard Fellowship in 2012, NIH Director's New Innovator Award in 2010, and was a 2008 Blavatnik Regional Award finalist. Key publications include "A novel class of small RNAs bind to MILI protein in mouse testes" (Nature, 2006), "Discrete small RNA-generating loci as master regulators of transposon activity in Drosophila" (Cell, 2007), "A mammalian microRNA expression atlas based on small RNA library sequencing" (Cell, 2007), "Human microRNA targets" (PLoS Biology, 2004), and "PIWI-interacting small RNAs: the vanguard of genome defence" (Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 2011). His contributions have shaped RNA biology, epigenetics, and genome defense fields.

Professional Email: aravin@caltech.edu