Dimitrios Papadopoulos Research Group

Molecular interactions of transcription factors with chromatin

Section: Disease Mechanisms

Research in a Nutshell

Transcription factors are important developmental regulators and their abnormal function frequently leads to developmental disorders and disease. Certain abnormalities and disease phenotypes associated with improper function of transcription factors involve mutations in their protein sequences, aberrant (low, high or variable) expression levels and enhancer mutations that result in gain or loss of their expression in specific tissues or aberrant regulation of their downstream effectors.

We use a multidisciplinary approach to understand transcription factor function at single-molecule resolution, combining genetics, fluorescence imaging and methods with single-molecule sensitivity such as Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS). Through the study of transcription factor absolute concentrations, their dynamic association/dissociation kinetics with chromatin and their spatiotemporal cell-to-cell concentration variability we aim at dissecting their molecular behaviour and link it to disease phenotypes.