Summary of the science
Erez Lieberman Aiden and his colleagues are interested in understanding how our genetic material is folded inside the cells of our bodies. All of our information together forms our genome. Genomes store a vast amount of information, and the lab wants to know how they are folded in 3D within the nucleus in the centre of a cell. One thing that they research is the CTCF protein, which forms loops in the genome, connecting different regions together and regulating gene activity. They use advanced technologies to study this process and learn how it affects other important activities in our cells.
About the research
Erez Lieberman Aiden and his colleagues study how our genomes are folded inside the nucleus of our cells and how the CTCF protein is involved in this process and can be targeted. They want to know how this is controlled and how it impacts other processes happening in our cells. To answer these questions, they use innovative techniques like DNA sequencing and computational methods. They are also interested in using large sets of data, including DNA sequences, to make new measurements and discoveries in various fields. Their work even contributed to the creation of the Google Ngram Viewer, a tool that helps analyze patterns in language over time.
About the illustration