We are part of the Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the Weizmann Institute, with joint affiliation to the Department of Biological Regulation.
Our group is studying the physical interfaces that associate genomic information with mechanisms that interpret it in the nucleus. Such physical mechanisms are in need since only part of the information in the genome is used at any given point in space and time, and since a single (albeit very long) piece of genomic code is used to implement thousands of different functional cell states. The physical interface to the genome (which broadly define the scope of epigenetics research) include marking and packaging of DNA into chromosomes, the organization of chromosomes into tight three-dimensional nuclear space, and the processes that stabilize and propagate the genome physical form across cell divisions (and in some cases, even through generations).
A particular focus of the group is the impact of epigenetic changes on cancer. Cancer cells change their behavior by interfering with the normal regulatory system that controls them. In particular, the cancer epigenome (the combination of all DNA and chromosomal markings of the genome) is highly aberrant. We wish to understand how changes to the epigenome affect the cancer phenotype, and to to test if epigenetic errors contribute to or caused by the main transitions of normal cells toward cancer. We are particularly interested in the dynamics of DNA methylation and Polycomb marks and in their correlation with chromosomal interactions.
The group is an interdisciplinary mixture of computer scientists, biologists, mathematicians and physicists. We combine extensive computational work with the development of new experimental systems for studying genomes and epigenomes as they change in cancer or normal development. We believe that the most effective approach to the complexities of the human (and ultimatly human-cancer) genome and epigenome is to measure simultaneously multiple markers and study their dynamics quantitatively using detailed stochastic models and machine learning techniques. We work toward these goals by developing a unique experimental system for perturbation of epigenomes and through many collaborations with the epigenetic research community.
Watch our Group Movie 2011, using white board stop motion animation to comprehensively describe what we are doing in just 2 minutes!!