The concept that it is possible to reprogram the cell fate for therapeutic purpose is one of the hottest field of the last years. Kenneth Zaret is investigating the mechanisms that regulate changes in gene expression during reprogramming. Starting from the evidence that transcription factors “pioneer” in the activation of a reprogramming process could invade silent chromatin, he focused his attention on the affinity of these factors for specific DNA conformations. Interestingly, all the pioneer factors seems to have a high capability to adapt to the nucleosomes for which they show high affinity. Thus, studying the protein conformation it could be possible to identify other possible pioneer factors that could be tested for their role in the mediation of a reprogramming process.
Cellular senescence is defined as a basic aging process characterized by an irreversible growth arrest and a multi-faceted secretory phenotype (SAPS). Senescent cells have potent paracrine activities on normal and premalignant cells often inducing malignant phenotypes. Studying the behavior of senescent cells in vivo Judith Campisi showed that The SAPS can create a pro-inflammatory tissue environment that stimulates the development of cancer metastases. Thus, a better knowledge of the component of the SAPS could be beneficial to combat aging phenotypes and pathologies correlated with senescence.
The first day of the 13th CRG Symposium was focused on Chromatin Architecture & Dynamics and on the Mechanisms of Gene Regulation. The talks of some of the most influential scientists in the fields reflect that Form and Function in biology are intimately related aspects that finally can be investigated in detail. The advanced high-resolution imaging technologies, as well as recent advances in high-throughput sequencing and informatics to model and monitor genome-wide chromatin contact sites, are pushing the elucidation of the roles of genome architecture in coordinating global gene expression. Results on the spatial organization of chromatin in the nucleus at single cell resolution reflect another aspect of its dynamic nature. The understanding of the mechanisms that govern the dynamic structural and spatial organization of chromatin is providing important insights into gene regulation, development and epigenetic inheritance.Structural changes in chromatin are affected by the chemical modification of histone proteins and DNA, remodelling of nucleosomes, non-histone DNA-binding proteins and by noncoding RNAs. In this context, the RNAs molecules are obtaining an incredible interest in the gene regulation field and are now fully recognized as key regulatory players.
The first day of the 13th CRG Symposium was also the day of the success of the “poster speed presentation experiment” of the Organization. A one-minute presentation for each poster displayed in the following session resulted an excellent method to increase the curiosity and the affluence to the sessions and the best way to reflect the Dynamic in Science.
Daniela Sanges
CRG Symposium 2014