“Mechanisms for programming cell fate”. Kenneth Zaret

The concept that it is possible to reprogram the cell fate for therapeutic purpose is one of the hottest field of the last years. Kenneth Zaret is investigating the mechanisms that regulate changes in gene expression during reprogramming. Starting from the evidence that transcription factors “pioneer” in the activation of a reprogramming process could invade silent chromatin, he focused his attention on the affinity of these factors for specific DNA conformations. Interestingly, all the pioneer factors seems to have a high capability to adapt to the nucleosomes for which they show high affinity. Thus, studying the protein conformation it could be possible to identify other possible pioneer factors that could be tested for their role in the mediation of a reprogramming process.

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