An ambitious EC-funded research initiative on epigenetics advancing towards systems biology

Our lab is using state-of-the-art quantitative mass-spectrometry based proteomics technology to identify and characterize proteins that interact with epigenetic DNA and histone modifications (so-called chromatin 'readers'). We characterize the complexes that these readers form and study their biology in stem cells and their potential deregulation in cancer. Within the context of the Epigenesys consortium we are particularly interested to identify proteins that bind to 5-methylcytosine and its oxidized derivatives in mouse embryonic stem cells and differentiated cells. We aim to functionally characterize interactions that we have found using a variety of approaches, including genomic sequencing technology and functional knock-down approaches

People involved:

Cornelia G Spruijt, PhD student
Arne H. Smits, PhD student