Research Director

Kazuhiko Igarashi

Tohoku University
Professor
website

Outline

Cell differentiation is based on the processes of selective gene expression. Transcription factors and chromatin, which packages the genome DNA, generate mutual regulatory loops (i.e., epigenome loops), directing specific changes in both transcription factor binding and chromatin structures during cell differentiation. The aim of this project is to understand the structure and function of epigenome loops for cell differentiation.We will focus on the differentiation of plasma cells, which produce antibody, as a model system and apply a new quantitative chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequence (Q-ChIP-Seq) method to compare transcription factor binding and modification of chromatin during their differentiation. This project is expected to reveal fundamental mechanisms of the plasma cell differentiation and immune responses.