My research investigates how the genome functions in stem cells to regulate self-renewal and differentiation. We often think about transcription as occurring on a particular gene in a linear manner whereas the nucleus is a three dimension organelle into which the genome is folded and organised. Within this folded structure DNA regulatory sequences physically contact the genes they regulate forming tissue-specific chromatin loops. We use CRISPR Genome Editing, Molecular Biology and Cellular Imaging techniques combined with Genome-Wide Sequencing approaches and Bioinformatics analysis to investigate the mechanisms that underlie tissue-specific regulation of gene expression and genome folding.
Website: https://csb.utoronto.ca/faculty/jennifer-a-mitchell/