Gautam Vivek Soni

My lab's work is primarily guided by the question of fundamental synergy of structures in biological systems and their functional dynamics. In their native state, genomes of all eukaryotic organisms are folded into complex higher-order structures. Given its role in regulating all DNA and chromosome dependent processes, a major goal has been to elucidate physical mechanisms involved in folding of chromatin into highly compact higher order structures. Small changes in chromatin fibers yield dramatic effects in its large-scale organization and hence drastic biological implications. We develop novel nanotechnological tools to decipher physical rules governing self-assembled proteins and DNA-protein complexes in biological cells. These biophysical principles and their interdisciplinary approach are specially of interest as they lead to better understanding of cell function as well as diseases. In our lab, we study multi-scale chromatin structure and its epigenomic gene regulatory implications to understand role of physical force in biology.