Fellows seminar - Alterations in genes or their packaging leading to human diseases
In this joint seminar relating to the life sciences, two USIAS projects will be presented. The three fellows who are involved in them, all three from the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (IGBMC) of the University of Strasbourg, will speak about their findings, and reflect on the implications and applications of their research.
Title and abstract to come
Christelle Golzio and Hélène Puccio (2019 Fellows) will talk about their project In vivo modelling of a rare recessive ataxia linked to mitochondrial dysfunction utilizing zebrafish.
Epigenetics and genome packaging
By Patrick Schultz, 2021 Fellow
The level of gene expression, also known as transcription, controls all aspects of life and must be precisely regulated in response to changes in the environment and cellular signals. Transcription is carried out by molecular machines, RNA polymerases, designed to copy the genetic information encoded by DNA into RNA, which is then translated into proteins. A host of regulatory molecules help to adjust gene expression. Remodelers make DNA accessible to the transcription machinery by modifying the way in which DNA is packaged in the cell. The way DNA is organised in the form of chromatin predisposes a particular cell type to express its own set of genes, giving it its cellular identity. The molecular machines that control chromatin structure are often mutated during the development of cancers and constitute therapeutic targets.
One of the goals of our team is to describe the architecture of these molecular edifices in order to understand how they function, and how these molecular structures are disrupted by mutations found in patients. We purify these molecular assemblies from cultured human cells and use molecular electron microscopy imaging technologies to observe these molecular edifices, describe their shape, study their interactions and their movement over time.
- More information on Patrick Schultz and his USIAS project: Structure of human transcription co-activators.
