BIOCHEM 210: Multidisciplinary Insight into Chromosome Biology, from Development to Disease (2025)

Module: 2
Sponsoring Program: Tetrad
Administrator: Danny Dam


STUDY LIST INFORMATION
Course Number: BIOCHEM 210
Course Name: Multidisciplinary Insight into Chromosome Biology, from Development to Disease
Units: 3
Grading Option: S/U
Course Director: Elphege Nora
Co-Directors: Terumi Kohwi-Shigematsu

MORE COURSE INFORMATION
Dates: April 21, 2025 - May 9, 2025
Campus: MB
Location: BH 212
Schedule: M/W/F, 10:00am-12:00pm
Minimum Class Size: 8
Maximum Class Size: 16

 

The physical organization of chromosome influences many genomic processes, including transcription, DNA repair, replication, recombination and segregation. Mutations that disrupt chromosome folding can cause diseases including congenital malformations and certain types of cancer. In this course we will review the fundamental molecular processes that organize our genome inside the cell nucleus and how they can go awry in disease. We will cover recent insight into chromosome architecture and transcription factor dynamics, and discuss how they influence (or are influenced by) nuclear processes- with an emphasis on gene regulation in development and disease. The course will incorporate a combination of lectures and student-led discussions of papers.

Specific topics:

  • Crash course on sequencing-based methods to study nuclear organization, especially Hi-C and other Chromosome Conformation Capture derivatives
  • Physical compartmentalization of the genome and chromatin regulation
  • Chromosome folding by DNA loop extrusion motors
  • Insight from single-molecule live imaging of transcription factors
  • Regulation of transcription in the 4D nucleus - how do enhancers find their target genes?
  • Critical discussions about cause and consequence between transcription and genome folding
  • Nuclear matrix attachment and their role in shaping chromosomes
  • Roles of chromosome folding in DNA recombination in immune cells and during meiosis
  • DNA repair and nuclear organization
  • Novel methods to manipulate chromosome architecture.