EPFL BioE Talks SERIES "Biophysical Principles of Genome Organization Across Multiple Scales"
Event details
| Date | 29.09.2025 |
| Hour | 12:15 › 13:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Taekjip Ha, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical Medical School, Boston, MA (USA) |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
WEEKLY EPFL BIOE TALKS SERIES jointly with Physics Colloquia Series
(sandwiches provided)
Abstract:
Recent advances in genetics, biochemistry, cell biology, and biophysics have contributed to our understanding that the genome is organized hierarchically, with higher-order macromolecular assemblies spanning spatial and temporal orders of magnitude. Beyond being wrapped around histones as irregular groups of “beads on a string”, chromatin is organized into topologically associated domains, which are composed of small and large loops, and form euchromatic and heterochromatic compartments. In this talk, I will present biophysical principles we are uncovering about genome organization across three different scales, including sequence-dependent DNA mechanics [1], chromatin loops for homology search [2], and polyamines' role in translating nucleosome condensability into 3D genome organization [3].
[1] doi: 10.1101/2024.12.22.629997
[2] doi: 10.1101/2025.02.10.637451
[3] doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-08971-7
Bio:
EDUCATION & TRAINING
1990 B.S. in Physics, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
1996 Ph.D. in Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Thesis: Fluorescence Spectroscopy of Single Molecules at Room Temperature and Its Applications
(advisors: Shimon Weiss and Daniel Chemla)
1997 Postdoctoral Fellow (advisors: Shimon Weiss and Daniel Chemla), Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA
1998-2000 Postdoctoral Fellow (advisor: Steven Chu), Physics Dept, Stanford Univ, Stanford, CA
POST TRAINING POSITIONS
08/2023-present: George D. Yancopoulos in Honor of Frederick W. Alt Professor of Pediatrics,
Faculty affiliate, Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School;
Senior Investigator of Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital
01/2025-present: Director, Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital
08/2015-07/2023: Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Biophysics & Biophysical Chemistry, Biophysics and Biomed. Eng., Johns Hopkins University
09/2005–present: Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
01/2012–08/2015: Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Endowed Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
08/2010–08/2015: Theme Leader “Cellular Decision Making in Cancer,” Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois
09/2008–08/2015: Co-director, Center for the Physics of Living Cells, University of Illinois
08/2007–08/2015: Professor, Department of Physics and Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois
07/2013-12/2014: Director, Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois
08/2004–08/2007: Associate Professor, Department of Physics and Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois
08/2000–07/2004: Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois
Zoom link (with one-time registration for the whole series) for attending remotely: https://go.epfl.ch/EPFLBioETalks
Instructions for 1st-year Ph.D. students planning to attend this talk, who are under EDBB’s mandatory seminar attendance rule:
IN CASE you cannot attend in-person in the room, please make sure to
(sandwiches provided)
Abstract:
Recent advances in genetics, biochemistry, cell biology, and biophysics have contributed to our understanding that the genome is organized hierarchically, with higher-order macromolecular assemblies spanning spatial and temporal orders of magnitude. Beyond being wrapped around histones as irregular groups of “beads on a string”, chromatin is organized into topologically associated domains, which are composed of small and large loops, and form euchromatic and heterochromatic compartments. In this talk, I will present biophysical principles we are uncovering about genome organization across three different scales, including sequence-dependent DNA mechanics [1], chromatin loops for homology search [2], and polyamines' role in translating nucleosome condensability into 3D genome organization [3].
[1] doi: 10.1101/2024.12.22.629997
[2] doi: 10.1101/2025.02.10.637451
[3] doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-08971-7
Bio:
EDUCATION & TRAINING
1990 B.S. in Physics, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
1996 Ph.D. in Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Thesis: Fluorescence Spectroscopy of Single Molecules at Room Temperature and Its Applications
(advisors: Shimon Weiss and Daniel Chemla)
1997 Postdoctoral Fellow (advisors: Shimon Weiss and Daniel Chemla), Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA
1998-2000 Postdoctoral Fellow (advisor: Steven Chu), Physics Dept, Stanford Univ, Stanford, CA
POST TRAINING POSITIONS
08/2023-present: George D. Yancopoulos in Honor of Frederick W. Alt Professor of Pediatrics,
Faculty affiliate, Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School;
Senior Investigator of Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital
01/2025-present: Director, Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital
08/2015-07/2023: Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Biophysics & Biophysical Chemistry, Biophysics and Biomed. Eng., Johns Hopkins University
09/2005–present: Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
01/2012–08/2015: Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Endowed Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
08/2010–08/2015: Theme Leader “Cellular Decision Making in Cancer,” Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois
09/2008–08/2015: Co-director, Center for the Physics of Living Cells, University of Illinois
08/2007–08/2015: Professor, Department of Physics and Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois
07/2013-12/2014: Director, Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois
08/2004–08/2007: Associate Professor, Department of Physics and Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois
08/2000–07/2004: Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois
Zoom link (with one-time registration for the whole series) for attending remotely: https://go.epfl.ch/EPFLBioETalks
Instructions for 1st-year Ph.D. students planning to attend this talk, who are under EDBB’s mandatory seminar attendance rule:
IN CASE you cannot attend in-person in the room, please make sure to
- send D. Reinhard a note well ahead of time (ideally before seminar day), informing that you plan to attend the talk online, and, during seminar:
- be signed in on Zoom with a recognizable user name (not any alias making it difficult or impossible to identify you).
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Prof. Sahand Rahi, Institute of Physics & Institute of Bioengineering
Contact
- Institute of Bioengineering (IBI), Dietrich REINHARD