Building and maintaining the nucleus over a lifetime
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We seek to understand how the organization of the cell nucleus is established, specialized across cell types, and maintained over time to influence cellular identity. “Nuclear organization” involves the non-random packaging of the genome within the nucleus, but also the assembly and interactions of other nuclear structures, such as the nuclear lamina and the nucleolus.
This work begins with a particular focus on the nuclear lamina, a nuclear structure that is essential for mammalian development and is mutated in ~15 “laminopathy” diseases that afflict the heart, muscle, bone, fat, and nervous system. We focus on three main thematic areas: (i) defining the essential roles that the nuclear lamina plays in nuclear organization, (ii) exploring disruption of nuclear organization as a possible cellular mechanism of aging, and (iii) determining how nuclear organization is maintained or, alternatively, remodeled, over time.
