Epigenetic regulation and chromatin architecture

About the lab

We study mechanisms of gene expression at multiple levels, from the local action of transcription factors, to long-range chromatin looping events that connect regulatory DNA sequences with the genes they regulate, to how whole chromosomes are positioned within cell nuclei. Binding of transcription factors at regulatory sequences helps recruit chromatin remodelers and the transcription machinery to transcription sites.

Upon recruitment, RNA polymerases either remain primed for subsequent activation (e.g. after environmental stress, during differentiation or disease), or directly transcribe the DNA template into RNA molecules, which code for proteins or for structural RNAs that constitute many enzymatic complexes.

An increasingly important aspect of gene regulation is the three-dimensional folding of the genome, and the mechanisms that control physical contacts of distant regulatory DNA sequences with gene promoters to activate gene expression. To directly measure genome topologies, our group developed Genome Architecture Mapping (GAM).

Our long-term strategy for unravelling the principles of genome function in higher eukaryotes aims to integrate multiple parameters, which is becoming increasingly possible with state-of-the-art developments in single cell genomics, molecular biology, epigenetics, nuclear imaging, and genetics.