NYSCF Innovator Studies 3D Genome Architecture During Stem Cell Reprogramming
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The 3D structure of a cell’s genetic code, or genome, helps guide genetic expression. Though it is known that this structure is rearranged in somatic cells during reprogramming into induced pluripotent stem cells, this process is poorly understood.
NYSCF – Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Dr. Jennifer Phillips-Cremins, University of Pennsylvania, investigates this phenomenon in her work recently published in Cell Stem Cell. In an effort to shed light on how the cellular genome structure is reconfigured during reprogramming, Dr. Phillips-Cremins and her team compared epigenetic marks and gene expression between different types of cells, showing that induced pluripotent stem cell genomes can have mistakes in their 3D folding linked to inaccurately reprogrammed gene expression.
This research has implications on how to develop the best possible cells for future regenerative medicine applications.