Lotte Stagsted
Regulatory roles of 3D chromatin topology in alternative splicing and circular RNA biogenesis
Lotte Stagsted, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, has received a Lundbeck Foundation Postdoc grant worth DKK 2,620,672.
About the project
Lotte Stagsted’s project aims to investigate how adaptation in chromatin 3D topology in response to changes in gene expression contributes to the regulation of specific RNA processing events, such as the biogenesis of circular RNAs, that are over-represented in neurons. She will elucidate the impact of ’melting’ of long genes on RNA processing events in neurons. ’Melting’ is a recently discovered feature of chromatin regulation in post-mitotic mammalian cells, frequently found at neuronal genes associated with topoisomerase sensitivity, associated with neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders.
To explore the 3D folding of long neuronal genes and map in situ RNA processing events in parallel with genome architecture mapping from the same cells, the project will take advantage of novel technologies and biological systems uniquely available in the international host laboratory. The results will open new avenues for the characterization of molecular mechanisms of gene expression deregulation at the level of transcript processing into different outputs.
