Mechanisms of chromatin patterning
Fabian Erdel
CR CNRS
05 61 33 58 60
Team members
Research engineer Researcher Postdoctoral fellow PhD student- Cheryn Ali
- Dominika Lewandowska
- Sanaa Bensaha
Master student- Michela Anfossi
- Laura Glepin
- Bastien Diaz
- Gaelle Lescalet
Presentation

Inspired by the functional diversity among the genetically identical cells of an organism, our goal is to understand how cells can interpret their genome in a particular way to establish their cellular identity. To this end, we study the mechanisms that cells use to form and maintain cell type-specific chromatin patterns along their genome. As these patterns span multiple scales from a few modified histones to micron-sized subcompartments, we investigate them using complementary techniques from single-molecule biophysics to live-cell imaging and computational biology.
Projets
Genome-wide chromatin patterns
Epigenetic circuits in living cells
Single-molecule chromatin biophysics
Publications
- Muzzopappa F, Hummert J, Anfossi M, Tashev SA, Herten DP, Erdel F.
Detecting and quantifying liquid-liquid phase separation in living cells by model-free calibrated half-bleaching
Nature Communications 13: 7787
2022 Dec - Muzzopappa F, Hertzog M, Erdel F..
DNA length tunes the fluidity of DNA-based condensates.
Biophys J 120: 1-13
2021 Feb - Erdel F.
Biophysical mechanisms of chromatin patterning
Curr Opin Genet Dev 61:62-68
2020 May - Erdel F, Rademacher A, Vlijm R, Tünnermann J, Frank L, Weinmann R, Schweigert E, Yserentant K, Hummert J, Bauer C, Schumacher S, Al Alwash A, Normand C, Herten DP, Engelhardt J, Rippe K.
Mouse heterochromatin adopts digital compaction states without showing hallmarks of HP1-driven liquid-liquid phase separation
Mol Cell 78:236–249
2020 Apr - Erdel F, Rippe K.
Formation of chromatin subcompartments by phase separation
Biophys J 114(10):2262-70
2018 May
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Funding
Alumni
Master students:
2019 - Elisabeth Schweigert (ERASMUS, Germany)
2020 - Antoine Solnais (M2 Genes, Cells & Development)
2021 - Andressa Arabe Alves (M1 Biotechnology)
2021 - Michela Anfossi (ERASMUS, Italy)