Chemical Biology on the Genome Event

Event details

The chemistry, structure and function of nucleic acids are of fundamental importance to our understanding of life.  In this lecture, I will discuss DNA secondary structures and chemical modifications along with their influence on DNA function.  DNA can adopt secondary structures other than the B-form double helix.  I will present a quadruple helix motif, called the G-quadruplex, which forms in the genome, and discuss its implications for genome function, stability, disease and therapeutics.  DNA also comprises bases other than the canonical G, C, A and T. I will discuss the recent advancement in our understanding of just how wide the (epi)genetic alphabet is in the human genome and the possibility that such modifications have functions. I will discuss the development and application of chemical approaches from our lab to detect and map such features in genomes by sequencing.