Welcome to the Bai Lab
The Bai Lab uses a variety of strategies to understand the mechanism of gene regulation by chromatin structure at different levels. Currently, we are working on two main projects: (1) to identify and characterize “pioneer factors” that can lead to nucleosome depletion and (2) to mechanistically dissect long-distance chromosomal interactions that regulate gene expression. We measure gene expression in single live cells to probe how these chromatin features affect gene expression in terms of the average level, cell-to-cell variability (noise), and dynamics. We are using budding yeast as our primary model system, but we are venturing into the mammalian cells as well. Method-wise, we are using a combination of imaging, genetics, genomics, and computational methods. We are also developing new genetics and genomics tools for the projects above.
Lab News
09/23: Most of the Bai lab attended the CSHL Transcription meeting and presented our recent work.
08/23: Our Center of Eukaryotic Gene Regulation organized the 39th Penn State summer symposium on chromatin and gene regulation. Record number of researchers attended. Congratulations to Cheng for getting the best student talk award!
07/23: Congratulations to Courtney to be part of the NIH EGR training grant (T32).
05/23: Holly and Cheng’s review, “Using Synthetic DNA Library to Investigate Chromatin and Gene Regulation”, is accepted by Chomosoma.
04/23: Hengye et al.’s method paper “Investigating pioneer factor activity and its coordination with chromatin remodelers using Integrated Synthetic Oligo (ISO) assay” is accepted by Star Protocol.
03/23: Our newest collaborative work with Michael Poirier and Song Tan’s group, “Basic helix-loop-helix pioneer factors interact with the histone octamer to invade nucleosomes and generate nucleosome depleted regions.”, is published in Molecular Cell.
10/22: Congratulations to Hengye and Fan for successfully defending their theses!
Funding
Bai lab is grateful for fundings from NIH, NSF, PSU, and previous fellowship supports.
