epigenetics

I seek to understand the chromatin organisation in endometrial cancer (cancer of the uterus). My goal is to link the genetic (changes in DNA sequence) perturbations to epigenetic (changes other than DNA sequence) modifications. For one, I want to understand how mutations in the SWI/Snf complex influence chromatin structure in uterine cancer and how they link to disease progression.

Loss of function of cardiac TFs Gata5, Tbx5a, and Hand2 affected the cardiac regulatory networks and caused global changes in chromatin accessibility profile, indicating their role in heart development. Among regions with differential chromatin accessibility in mutants were highly conserved noncoding elements that represent putative enhancers driving heart development.