D-ChIP: development of a new approach to identify proximal chromatin-associated factors and epigenetic markers

Many new treatments for cancer that are under investigation focus on the ability to directly target a particlar protein or gene. These new approaches require investigators to build up as complete a picture as possible of the biology of the cancer cell. This is also very important for the identification of so-called “biomarkers” that can help with patient selection for a given therapy. This project represents part of a effort to develop a new technique called D-ChIP that will allow researchers to identify when and where two different proteins are interacting on DNA to contol activity of genes. This is important because proteins do not generally function in isolation, rather they exist in multiprotein “complexes” that can vary in their composition. It is anticipated that upon its successful development, the adoption of this protocol by researchers will help to uncover how normal and diseased cells regulate use of their DNA.