Buschbeck Group: Chromatin, Metabolism and Cell Fate

Address

Keywords

Histone variants, drug response, metabolism, cancer, myelodysplastic syndrome

Models

Primary and established cell lines, mouse xenografts, zebrafish, patient samples

Techniques

Cell culture and manipulation including primary cells and embryonic stem cells, differentiation and transformation protocols, viral gene cassette transduction, Chromatin IP in all its facets including ChIP-seq, epigenomic and transcriptomic data mining, bioinfomrmatics, FISH, affinity purifications coupled to mass spectrometry, basic biochemistry.

Collaborations outside COST

My lab has a large number of established collaborations to complement our capacities with mouse models, zebrafish, sub-diffraction microscopy and metabolomics among others. Clinical collaborators further provide access to primary samples primarily from myeloid dysplastic syndrome and squamous cell carcinoma patients.

Short description of ongoing research projects

Epigenetic information is written in chromatin. But how exactly do chromatin alterations contribute to cell fate transitions? How does the environment influence these processes? And how does the metabolic state of a cell impact on its chromatin structure and its epigenetic memory? These are questions we address in the lab. Current projects foscus on the histone variant macroH2A and chromatin modifiers that contribute to colorectal cancer and myelodysplastic syndrome.

Publications

1. Creppe C*, Palau A*, Malinverni R, Valero V, Buschbeck M. (2014) A Cbx8-containing polycomb complex facilitates the transition to gene activation during ES cell differentiation. PLoS Genet.
2. Cong R., Das S., Douet J., Wong J., Buschbeck M., Mongelard F. and P. Bouvet (2014) MacroH2A1 histone variant represses rDNA transcription. Nuc. Acid Res.
3. Creppe C., Janich P., Cantariño N., Noguera M., Valero V., Musulén E., Posavec M., Douet J., Martín-Caballero J., Sumoy L., Di Croce L., Benitah S.A., and M. Buschbeck (2012) MacroH2A regulates the commitment of embryonic and adult stem cells. Mol. Cell. Biol.
4. Posavec M, Timinszky G, Buschbeck M (2013) Macro domains as metabolite sensors on chromatin. Cell Mol Life Sci.
5. Uribesalgo I., Buschbeck M., Gutierrez A., Teichmann S., Kuebler B., Martín-Caballero J., Roma G., Benitah S.A. and L. Di Croce (2011) E-box-independent regulation of transcription and differentiation by c-Myc in leukemia. Nature Cell Biology

Other activities of potential interest to others

Organiser of the Barcelona Conference Series on Epigenetics and Cancer. Registration for BCEC 2015 on October 29+30 here: http://www.bdebate.org/en/forum/coding-and-non-coding-functions-genome-2015-bcec