JoVE | Peer Reviewed Scientific Video Journal

TOPICAL COLLECTIONS

Precision Measurement and Engineering of the Three-dimensional Genome Architecture in the Nervous System

Guest Editor

Dr. Longzhi Tan

Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University

<p>Originally from Wuhan, China, Tan received his Bachelor’s Degree in Physics with a minor in Biology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012, after transferring from Peking University. He worked on bacterial evolution with Jeff Gore (Physics), and human evolution with Pardis Sabeti (Organismic and Evolutionary Biology). Tan earned his PhD in Systems Biology from Harvard University in 2018. He worked with Xiaoliang Sunney Xie (Chemistry and Chemical Biology) to develop new methods for single-cell genomics. He uncovered the 3D structure of the human genome in a single cell and revealed unique chromosome organization in the mouse eye and nose. He also attended the Neurobiology summer course at the Marine Biological Laboratory in 2014 and worked with Ibrahim Cisse (Physics) at MIT in 2019. Tan is currently a postdoctoral scholar in Karl Deisseroth’s lab (Bioengineering/Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences) at Stanford University, studying single-cell 3D genome changes and spatial transcriptome changes in normal neurodevelopment and psychiatric disorders. Outside the lab, he enjoys designing holiday cards, t-shirts, and music videos, and is a scientific illustrator.</p>

Collection Overview

In our nervous system, the spatiotemporal expression of thousands of genes must be precisely orchestrated for a massive neural and glial network to form and function with proper activity and connectivity. How does each cell achieve such complex regulation of gene expression? An emerging mechanism is the three-dimensional (3D) genome architecture—the intricate 3D folding of our 2-meter-long genome in each 10-micron cell nucleus, which strategically positions genes and their regulatory elements. Consistent with its important role, 3D genome architecture has been repeatedly implicated in multiple neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Schizophrenia, and intellectual disability. Recently, a remarkable variety of new technologies have emerged to elucidate the mechanistic role of 3D genome architecture in the nervous system and its diseases. This JoVE Methods Collection highlights new molecular tools that enables the precise measurement and manipulation of 3D genome architecture in the nervous system.