Overview
- Using a technique called MCC Ultra, the team visualized chromatin architecture down to individual base pairs, exposing how gene-control switches are physically arranged.
- The peer-reviewed study was led by Professor James Davies with experimental work by doctoral researcher Hangpeng Li and was published in Cell.
- The authors propose a regulatory model in which electromagnetic forces draw control sequences to the DNA surface, clustering into previously unseen islands of activity.
- The researchers say the method provides a framework to identify where gene regulation goes awry in common conditions, opening routes to study disease mechanisms and drug targets.
- The project involved collaboration with Cambridge’s Professor Rosana Collepardo-Guevara, whose simulations supported the observed folding patterns, and UK media reported the resolution as roughly 200 times finer than prior approaches.