Resolving genome-wide views of chromatin structure to identify fundamental principles of genome organization (Completed 2012)

Human genetic information is encoded in DNA sequences and packaged precisely by molecules known as nucleosomes. Nucleosomes are found in all eukayotic organisms and inhibit key intracellular interactions that regulate how genetic information is read, including transcription factor binding to DNA. Our lab employs both computational and experimental approaches to study how chromatin structure influences gene regulation in normal and disease states. We utilize emerging high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies (e.g. ChIP-seq, MNase-seq, FAIRE-seq) and novel methods in computational biology to explore the relationship between chromatin structure & regulatory factor targeting on a genome-wide scale. Our experimental systems range from cell culture & eukaryotic models like S. cerevisiae to patient tumor samples and pathogenic fungi such as C. albicans.

Michael Buck, PhD