Steve Henikoff is a scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and an HHMI Investigator. His field of study is chromatin-related transcriptional regulation. He is a keynote speaker at the 4th International Conference on Epigenetics and Bioengineering (EpiBio2020) at North Carolina State University. We recently spoke with Steve to find out what we can expect during the conference.
In your opinion, what is the most important current trend in epigenetics and bioengineering?
Single-cell technologies are beginning to impact epigenetic research on development and disease, and I expect this trend to accelerate as the technologies become more affordable and routine for most people working on specific problems.
From your perspective, what are some of the biggest challenges scientists/engineers face in this field?
Cutting-edge genomic and imaging technologies are exciting but can be of limited relevance to individual researchers and clinicians because of expense and the need for specialized equipment or skills. How can new epigenetic and bioengineering tools best enable basic and translational research on a small scale?
What specifically will you be talking about at the conference?
We have recently applied in situ strategies for epigenomic profiling to address problems in chromatin dynamics, including how transcription factors find their binding sites in an epigenomic landscape dominated by nucleosomes, and how nucleosomes become depleted at sites of gene regulation.
What message would you like the audience to take away from this year’s conference?
Epigenomic mapping technologies can provide general insights into dynamic processes of gene regulation.
Learn more about the 4th Epigenetics and Bioengineering Conference (EpiBio 2020).
Steve Henikoff
Steve Henikoff is a scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and an HHMI Investigator. His field of study is chromatin-related transcriptional regulation. Read more