PRBB-CRG Sessions Konrad Hochedlinger

03/03/202312:00MARIE CURIEPRBB-CRG SessionsKonrad HochedlingerDept of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA"Transcriptional & epigenetic mechanisms that maintain cell identity"Host: Bernhard PayerAbstract:Chromatin modifications dynamically change with development and differentiation and their dysregulation underlies diseases such as cancer. However, our understanding of the functional roles these modifications play during these processes remains incomplete because of the redundancy of most histone modifying enzymes and the frequent toxicity of the respective knockout models. To overcome these limitations, we have developed histone mutant tools to dominantly block methylation without disrupting the upstream enzymes, thus bypassing toxicity. I will present unpublished data that reveal a previously unappreciated, dual role of H3K36 methylation in the maintenance of cell identity using experimentally models of cell fate change. In addition, I will present recent results from our lab that reveal an unanticipated link between the stem cell and reprogramming factor Sox2 and a specialized stomach cell type by leveraging a novel gastric culture model we have developed.