The 2018 Gordon Conference on Chromatin Structure and Function will bring together leading experts and newcomers to the field, to present and discuss their newest research on chromatin, its complex interactions, and its regulatory power in shaping genome architecture and function. Technologies to visualize and map chromatin at all levels are proceeding at a rapid pace. The meeting will highlight how chromatin structures, ranging from the nucleosome โ the “building block” of chromatin – up to the dynamic three-dimensional spatial organization of the chromosome, are assembled, maintained, and altered, and how this ultimately controls genome functions.
Interconnected questions at the frontier of the field will be addressed โ how does the nucleosome interact with other nuclear factors, how is chromatin assembled, disassembled, and maintained in a dynamic state, what is the molecular basis for the crosstalk between epigenetic modifications and metabolism, and how does dysfunction of any of these processes result in disease.
Presentations will encompass a wide variety of innovative technical approaches โ from Angstrom level description of chromatin components at all organizational levels to the visualization of micron-scale structures by light microscopy, and the mapping of chromatin states genome-wide at unprecedented resolution. There will be a focus on new methods to determine chromatin dynamics and the relationships between chromatin structure and function, and on adapting these to the level of single molecules and single cells.