Meetings & Courses Program

Crossroads of Biology

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Chromatin, Epigenetics & Gene Expression
July 22 - August 10, 2025

Key Dates
Application Deadline:  March 31st, 2025
Arrival: July 22nd by 6pm EST
Departure: August 10th around 12pm EST

CSHL Courses are intensive, running all day and often including evenings and weekends; students are expected to attend all sessions and reside on campus for the duration of the course.

Instructors:
Jill Dowen, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Michael Guertin, University of Connecticut
Aaron Johnson, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Marc Mendillo, Northwestern University School of Medicine

See the roll of honor - who's taken the course in the past.

The Chromatin, Epigenetics & Gene Expression course is designed for students, postdocs, and principal investigators who have recently ventured into the exciting area of gene regulation. Emphasis will be placed on exposing students to a broad array of methodologies to study gene regulation, chromatin structure and dynamics, including both state-of-the-art and well-developed methods.

Students will perform widely used techniques such as:

  • Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)
  • ChIP coupled with sequencing (ChIP-seq)
  • Chromatinaccessibiliy assays (ATAC-seq)
  • RNA expression analysis (RT-qPCR, RNA-seq)
  • Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay (EMSA)
  • Chromatin Biochemistry

    • Students will perform ChIP-seq and ATAC-seq and apply a basic pipeline to analyze their genomic results.

    Students will learn about state-of-the-art genetic perturbation strategies. They will perform two of these methods to reduce or eliminate the expression of a gene of interest: RNA interference(RNAi), rapidly inducible degrons (dTAG), and CRISPR-Cas9 targeted disruption.  Further, students will compare how each method affects gene expression and function.

    Students will learn how to assemble recombinant chromatin with modified histones and test specificity of epigenetic “reader” proteins and enzymes that modify chromatin.  Quantitative methods will be used to analyze activity and selectivity for specific substrates.

    This course will also provide the basic concepts behind different methods to analyze the chromatin architecture of the genome. Moreover, we will discuss the computational methods required to analyze data concerning three-dimensional chromatin architecture.

    Experience with basic recombinant DNA and molecular biology techniques is a prerequisite for admission to this course. Lectures by the instructors will cover the current state of the gene expression and epigenetics fields, theoretical aspects of the methodology, and broader issues regarding strategies for investigating the regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes. Emphasis will be placed on advantages and limitations of specific techniques, and data interpretation. Each evening, an invited speaker who is an expert in the field will present their work and interact with students. The students are encouraged and expected to actively participate in these discussions, and to take advantage of the many opportunities to network and receive input on their projects and future plans.

    2025 Invited Speakers:
    Karen Adelman, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 
    Ioannis Aifantis, HHMI/NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY 
    Effie Apostolou, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 
    Hector Franco, Univ of Puerto Rico Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Juan, Puerto Rico 
    Melissa Harrison, University of Wisconsin Madison, Madison, WI 
    Erica Larschan, Brown University, Needham, MA 
    Michael Levine, Princeton University, Princeton, CA 
    Kristen Lynch, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 
    Geeta Narlikar, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 
    Robert Roeder, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 
    Phillip Sharp, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 
    Ali Shilatifard, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 
    Lori Sussel, Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes and the University of Colorado, Aurora, CO 
    Dylan Taatjes, CU Boulder, Boulder, United States 
    Seychelle Vos, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 

    Support & Stipends

    Major support provided by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health

    We would like to acknowledge the following companies that provided invaluable support::
    Equipment:     Bio-Rad Laboratories, GE Healthcare, Promega Life Sciences, QSonica, LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific

    Stipends are available to offset tuition costs as follows:

            

    Please indicate your eligibility for funding in your stipend request submitted when you apply to the course. Stipend requests do not affect selection decisions made by the instructors. 

    Cost (including board and lodging): $5,675 USD

    No fees are due until you have completed the full application process and are accepted into the course. 

    Before applying, ensure you have (all due March 31):
    1. Personal statement/essay;
    2. Letter(s) of recommendation;
    3. Curriculum vitae/resume (optional);
    4. Financial aid request (optional).
      More details.

    If you are not ready to fully apply but wish to express interest in applying, receive a reminder two weeks prior to the deadline, and tell us about your financial aid requirements, click below: