SEMINAR ON QUANTITATIVE IMAGING OF NUCLEAR ARCHITECTURE AND DNA TARGET SEARCH IN A LIVING CELL

Please join us for the first seminar of the year. As part of Monash University 2021 Advanced Microscopy Seminar Series

Abstract
Nuclear architecture has emerged as a key player in DNA target search and maintenance of genome integrity. In recent work, we have developed a series of fluorescence microscopy methods to track the movement of molecules around the complex DNA networks within the nuclei of live cells. Based on fluorescence lifetime and fluctuation spectroscopy, this technology has the spatiotemporal resolution to map the impact genome organisation has on nuclear traffic and multi-protein complex formation. From using these methods, we have discovered that DNA networks rearrange to create a chromatin network that facilitates repair and transcription factor recruitment to target DNA sites. Collectively this body of work suggests genome organisation to serve as ‘road map’ for DNA-binding proteins to navigate the nucleus and maintain genome function.

About the Speaker:
Dr Elizabeth Hinde is an Imaging CoE Associate Investigator. Currently, she is the Jacob Haimson Beverly Mecklenburg Lecturer in the School of Physics at the University of Melbourne Node. Dr Hinde holds a joint appointment with the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as an NHMRC Career Development Fellow. In 2010 Dr Elizabeth completed her PhD in fluorescence spectroscopy at the University of Melbourne and was then recruited at the University of California, Irvine, USA to pursue a post-doctoral fellowship under the mentorship of Professor Enrico Gratton.