Karolin Luger wants to understand the impact of chromatin architecture on genome-related processes such as gene transcription, DNA replication, and DNA repair. Luger and her team apply structural biology and biophysics tools as well as imaging, genomic, and genetic approaches to determine how chromatin is assembled and disassembled during these processes. The team also investigates the ancient origins of eukaryotic chromatin through studies of archaeal chromatin and chromatin-associated factors. Luger’s work may have significance for diseases involving proteins associated with DNA repair, such as cancer.
HHMI Investigator Karolin Luger is being honored by the Vilcek Foundation for her research into nucleosomes — the DNA-packaging structures inside cells — that has led to the development of innovative drugs for treating diseases, including cancer. Some large DNA viruses use histone proteins and specialized nucleosome-like structures to infect amoebae, scientists suggest. New cryo-electron microscopy images suggest archaeal microbes pack their chromatin into tight coils that can spring open, forming unexpected contortions. Eleven HHMI scientists have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Proteins in archaea bend strands of DNA in a way that’s similar in eukaryotes, new research from HHMI Investigator Karolin Luger and colleagues reveals. That similarity hints at the evolutionary origin of the elaborate folding that eukaryotic cells use to cram their genome into a nucleus.