Chromatin Replication and Epigenome Maintenance

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Anja Groth, Ph.D., professor and group leader, Biotech Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC), Københavns Universitet

Speaker bio(s)

In dividing cells, faithful duplication of the genome must be accompanied by reproduction of the chromatin landscape on newly synthesized DNA. Dr. Groth's research focuses on how human cells replicate chromatin and ensure transmission of genetic and epigenetic information during cell division. Her lab is using an explorative proteomic approach, Nascent Chromatin Capture (NCC), to understand chromatin replication (Alabert et al., 2014) and propagation of histone PTMs during cell division (Alabert et al., 2015). In addition, they are taking a structure-function approach to understand in detail how new and old histones are handled at the replication fork. They recently described a dual function of the TONSL-MMS22L homologous recombination (HR) complex as a histone chaperone and a histone reader (Saredi et al., 2016).

Dr. Groth will discuss this work and additional evidence supporting the concept of a histone reader based mechanism recognizing the post-replicative chromatin state in order to promote HR specifically in sister chromatids. She will also discuss a new technology to track protein/histone mark occupancy on replicated DNA and how this has advanced understanding of how the histone modification landscape is propagated in dividing cells.

Anja Groth is a professor at the Biotech Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC), Health and Medical Faculty, University of Copenhagen. She received her PhD in Molecular Biology from University of Copenhagen in 2004 for research on genome maintenance with Drs. Lukas and Bartek (Danish Cancer Society). In 2005, Dr. Groth joined Dr. Almouzni (Institut Curie, Paris) as a postdoc to work on histone dynamics and DNA replication. She established her research group at BRIC in 2008, supported by a Lundbeck Foundation Junior Group Leader Fellowship and an ERC starting grant. Dr. Groth received tenure in 2013 and became a full professor at BRIC in 2016. Her research group includes about 14 PhDs and postdocs, and is supported by highly competitive national and international funding including an ERC grant. She serves on the Danish Medical Research Council and has been awarded several research prizes and was elected a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters in 2016 and of EMBO in 2017. The Groth group is applying cutting-edge proteomic and genomic approaches as well as structure-function analysis to understand molecular mechanisms of chromatin replication and their implications for genome and epigenome maintenance.

Open to

Public

Host

Agata Smogorzewska, M.D., Ph.D.

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Justin Sloboda

Phone

(212) 327-7785

Sponsor

Justin Sloboda
(212) 327-7785
jsloboda@rockefeller.edu