Site-specific recombinases for chromatin structural analysis     

Treatment of many human diseases (such as cancer) could be advanced if we could understand exactly how DNA is arranged in the nuclei of cells. Current methods to analyse the DNA arrangement have problems; they are not very precise, and the cells have to be subjected to harsh treatments which might disrupt the DNA structure. We propose to develop a new improved method which will avoid these problems and achieve high-definition maps of the DNA arrangement inside cells. This method will use enzymes called site-specific recombinases, which can cut DNA strands at precise points and rejoin the ends to new partners.