Chromatin and Cancer – Beyond the Genome
The DNA in every human cell is about two metres long. Somehow it has to be packed into the tiny cell nucleus. Which presents nature with a problem: how can a thread so long be compacted without excessive tangling and knotting? Furthermore, in order for genes to be read, they need to be exposed to enzymes. That requires the DNA to be continually unraveled and re-packaged in an exquisitely precise and controlled manner. The first level of compaction is understood: the famous double-helix of DNA is wound around little reels made of proteins called histones, like beads on a string, forming what is referred to as chromatin. Many more levels of folding and wrapping produce the structures known as chromosomes, familiar from photographs of cell nuclei. Understanding the organization and dynamics of chromatin is a challenge requiring the expertise of mathematicians, physicists, chemists and biologists. On length scales between chromatin and chromosomes, most of the current picture is guesswork: a mesoscopic, amorphous, partially organized, information-rich and highly dynamic system. In cancer cells, the gross organization of chromatin is visibly altered, with obvious implications for gene expression and suppression. At the lowest level, variant forms of histones incorporated in chromatin have been implicated in triggering cancer. Chromatin structure and organization is thus the perfect intersection of topology and physical science with cancer biology. This workshop brought together experts from all three disciplines in an attempt to identify ways in which physical interventions in chromatin organization might help us to understand and even control cancer.
Participants
Paul Davies
Arizona State University
Lindsay Stuart
Arizona State University
Johnson Roger
Arizona State University
Hager Gordon
National Cancer Institute
Widom Jon
Norhtwestern Univ.
Austin Robert
Princeton University
Henikoff Steven
Fred Hutch
Cremer Thomas
Muenchen University
Hanlon Sean
National Cancer Institute
Sumners DeWitt
Florida State University
Nandakumar Vivek
Arizona State University
Glenn Honor
Arizona State University
Kelbauskas Laimonas
Arizona State University
Buck Dorothy
Brown University
Lawrence Jeanne
University of Massachsetts
Stamatoyannopoulos John
University of Washington
