Biochemistry of Epigenetic Inheritance
Research Unit
The ability of cells to acquire and maintain stable differentiated states is central to development. Nicole J. Francis’s lab is interested in how the gene expression patterns that define cellular states can be inherited across cell generations and how this might involve heritable changes to chromatin. The idea that chromatin structure carries heritable (epigenetic) information is attractive because of its conceptual simplicity—epigenetic and genetic information are inherited together. However, this idea raises questions about how chromatin features can be inherited through cell cycles since both DNA replication and mitosis disrupt chromatin structure.
The goal of the team’s work is to discover the biochemical mechanisms that enable chromatin states to be propagated through DNA replication and mitosis. They address these questions using the Polycomb Group (PcG) proteins of Drosophila melanogaster.
- Director, Systems Biology and Medicinal Chemistry Research Division
- Director, Biochemistry of Epigenetic Inheritance Research Unit
- Associate IRCM Research Professor
- Associate Research Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Université de Montréal
- Research Scholar from the John-R.-Evans Leaders Fund, Canada Foundation for Innovation
Awards and honours
- Searle Scholar Award, Kinship Foundation
- Basil O’Connor Scholar Award, March of Dimes
- New Scholar Award, The Ellison Medical Foundation
Degrees and relevant experience
- B.Sc. in Biology, McGill University, Montreal, QC (1989-1993)
- PhD in Neuroscience, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (1993-2000)
- Postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Robert Kingston, Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital (2000-2004), Boston, MA
- Assistant Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (2004-2008)
- Associate Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (2008-2012)
Projects and major discoveries
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How are chromatin states propagated though DNA replication
Current projects involve analyzing the behaviour of both PcG proteins and histones during DNA replication, and how chromatin structure is restored after DNA replication.
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How are chromatin states propagated though mitosis
Current work aims to determine how and why PcG proteins are lost from some sites in mitosis but not others. Specifically the lab is interested in the chromatin structure of both types of sites in interphase and mitosis, and how PcG proteins are recruited to them.
