Investigating early and late-life gene regulatory elements
Abstract
Developmentally immature, adult, and aged cells have distinct functional characteristics. The genetic programming that causes cells to mature underpins key aspects of organismal development. How this is encoded, and whether there is a functional connection to cellular ageing, are questions of high relevance for biotechnology and life-stock sectors. Our molecular profiling across numerous cell types spanning the maturation-age spectrum have identified a general mechanism that both governs the commissioning of life-stage specific regulatory elements and becomes hijacked in cellular aging. The project will decode the grammar of life-stage specific enhancer elements, investigate their epigenetic interactions, and study their modulation in vivo.