Events Calendar

Seminar in Biomedical Engineering

Speaker: Albert Keung, PhD, NIH-NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT(IMES)-Boston University(BME), Boston, MA.

Talk Title: Synthetic Chromatin Biology

Abstract: The genomes of eukaryotic organisms including yeast, plants, and mammals are packaged into chromatin, a constellation of proteins and RNA physically layered on top of the polymeric genomic DNA. Chromatin’s rich structure and intimate association with the genome drives highly sophisticated gene expression programs and is relevant in diverse cellular processes from yeast metabolism to cancer to stem cell differentiation. Due to the hundreds of chromatin components and their functional diversity and complexity, there remain many questions and hypotheses surrounding the fundamental mechanisms of chromatin regulation. Furthermore, we are just beginning to reveal and quantitatively understand the potential gene regulatory behaviors chromatin confers to eukaryotic cells beyond gene activation and repression. In this talk, I will discuss how systems-scale synthetic biology approaches can help address fundamental questions about chromatin regulation, reveal complex gene regulation behaviors, and advance our ability to treat diverse disease states. I will describe a library of 223 synthetic proteins that site-specifically controls chromatin states in the yeast, S. cerevisiae. Recruitment of these synthetic chromatin regulators to custom genetic reporters reveals diverse regulatory behaviors including: 1) two-input logic; 2) long-range regulation; 3) asymmetric spatial regulation; and 4) gene expression memory. Through gene ontology clustering analysis, this synthetic system also provides insights into the protein functions driving these behaviors and can be used to address fundamental hypotheses in chromatin biology. Just as over 15 years ago synthetic biology built a conceptual and experimental framework around the manipulation of DNA sequences, new systems to control and harness chromatin will deepen our understanding of eukaryotic gene regulation and provide a powerful layer of cellular regulation for biomedical and biotechnological applications

Biography: Dr. Keung is a postdoctoral fellow at MIT and Boston University. His doctoral work focused on extracellular biophysical cues and their effects on stem cell differentiation and neurogenesis. Given the importance of chromatin in these processes, and its ubiquitous roles in eukaryotic gene regulation, Dr. Keung became broadly interested in engineering synthetic approaches to manipulate and harness chromatin and other epigenetic sources of cellular information, with the ultimate goals of advancing biological research, human health, and biotechnology.

Host: Stanley Yamashiro

Location: OHE 122

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta