Chromatin, Epigenetics & Gene Expression
July 26 - August 15, 2023

Key Dates
Application Deadline:  April 1st, 2023
Arrival: July 25th by 6pm EST
Departure: August 15th 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

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COVID-19: All participants planning to attend in-person will be required to attest to recent COVID vaccination (within one year of the course’s start date) with an FDA or WHO approved vaccine. Additional safety measures will be in line with current NY and Federal Guidelines applicable in Summer 2023.

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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)
  • Reporter assays of enhancer activity
  • 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.

    2023 Speakers:
    Karen Adelman,
    Harvard Medical School
    Shelley Berger, University of Pennsylvania
    Luciano Di Croce, ICREA and Centre for Genomic Regulation, Spain
    Hector Franco, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
    Jennifer Gerton, Stowers Institute for Medical Research
    Yuan He, Northwestern University
    Erica Larschan, Brown University
    Elissa Lei, National Institutes of Health
    Michael Levine, Princeton University
    Ross Levine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
    Athma Pai, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School
    Robert Roeder, The Rockefeller University 
    Ali Shilatifard, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
    Brian Strahl, North Carolina School of Medicine
    Dylan Taatjes, University of Colorado
    Julia 
    Zeitlinger, Stowers Institute for Medical Research

    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): $5,550

    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 April 1):
    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: