Development of New Imaging to Analyze the Binding Mechanisms of Epigenetic Complexes
Roubina Tatavosian
Current position: M.S. Student, Department of Chemistry, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado
Education: B.S. in Biochemistry, 2009, California State University, Los Angeles, California
Nonscientific interests: Traveling, hiking, and camping
As a master's degree student at the University of Colorado Denver, I became inspired by the research of Assistant Professor Dr. Xiaojun Ren in the Department of Chemistry at the university. I was fascinated by the diverse biological functions of epigenetic complexes in both development and cancer and the interdisciplinary approaches taken by the Ren laboratory involving stem cells, chromatin biochemistry, and single-molecule biophysics. Since I joined the Ren laboratory, I have been focusing on understanding of how PcG complexes organize chromatin. By developing and applying a new technique termed Sm-ChIPi (single molecule chromatin immunoprecipitation imaging), we were able to visualize and quantify the cellular assembly stoichiometry of PcG complexes on chromatin. Currently, by applying single-molecule imaging, I am working to define in vivo kinetic principles of PcG complex interaction with chromatin and to map spatial organization of chromatin-bound PcG complexes in the nucleus of living cells. I am very grateful to my mentor, Dr. Xiaojun Ren, for his guidance, constructive criticism, and emotional support. I will be pursing my Ph.D in Integrative and System Biology at the University of Colorado Denver starting in the fall of 2016 and look forward to continuing my research in the Ren laboratory.