The Challenge
How a cell manages to fit approximately two meters of DNA into its nucleus remains a mystery. Additionally, the way that DNA is looped in our cells can influence how frequently different genes are expressed.
Our goal is to develop a physical understanding of the compact structure of our genome that also helps explain the role of genome organization in gene regulation.
Our Solution
We think of our genetic material in the form of chromatin as really long polymers. We apply techniques from polymer physics to model how motor proteins modify chromatin conformations and dynamics through a process known as active loop extrusion and use computer simulations to validate our theories.
By comparing our predictions to existing experimental data, we can deepen our understanding of the physics of the genome. Hopefully our work can help inform experiments designed to control the organization of specific genomic regions.