Current Research
Immediately after an egg is fertilized, DNA and its packaging proteins (histones) undergo drastic reorganization so that cells can acquire new identities in early embryos. However, how this is achieved remains poorly understood due to the extremely scarce experimental samples. By developing ultrasensitive tools for chromatin analysis, Wei Xie is working to decipher how such reprogramming occurs and whether chromatin associated "epigenetic" information can be passed on to the next generation.