Using super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy; STORM) in collaboration with Lakadamyali lab (UPENN, USA) we identified a novel model of chromatin fibre organization and decoded the relation between this structure and naïve pluripotency (Ricci et al. Cell 2015). Furthermore, we set up a novel approach to image non-repetitive genomic regions with nanoscale resolution and in living cells (Neguembor et al. NAR 2018). We also visualize how histone tail acetylation impacts DNA compaction at nanoscale level and identified the clutch DNA lying within a specific nanoscale zone from the center of the nucleosome clutch (Otterstrom et al, NAR 2019). Finally, using single molecule tracking (SMT) we showed that nucleosomes are dynamic and their local mobility within chromatin relates to the structural features observed in super-resolution images and mesoscale models (Gomez-Garcia et al. Cell Reports, in press). Using super resolution microscopy, we are interested in studying the 3D genome organization (Cosma & Lakadamyali Nature Methods 2020) and we are currently investigating mechanism of chromatin loop formation.
