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- Sony Biotechnology
- Sony Biotechnology
In this webinar, Professor Longzhi Tan explores the question of how nerve cells with the identical genetic information become specialized. One possible answer lies in their 3D genome structure, which organizes genes and their transcription factors, impacting gene activity and disease progression. Measuring genome structure is challenging, but Dr. Tan has developed methods based on DNA sequencing to unveil it at the single-cell level. These methods, including Dip-C, scMicro-C, Pop-C, vDip-C, and LiMCA, rely on chromatin conformation capture and whole genome amplification of single cells or single nuclei, which are sorted with the SH800 cell sorter.
Dr. Tan applied these methods to investigate the development of the eye, nose, and brain. In the eye, a unique structure that facilitates light concentration at night was discovered. In the nose, hubs connecting genes and their enhancers were revealed. In the brain, changes in genes, their activity, and 3D structure during development were closely monitored. The full spectrum of genetic changes in brain cells in the absence of any specific disease or pathology was documented, and significant shifts in gene activity and 3D structure were observed during early life in mice. More recently, Dr. Tan identified lasting changes in genome structure in cerebellar granule cells in both humans and mice. These findings shed light on 3D genome regulation in aging and have wide-ranging applications in medicine.
Learning Objectives:
Researchers who want to explore 3D genome structure in gene transcription and alterations in chromatin contacts, and their links to neurological disease and aging in humans and mice, and who want to learn a method to obtain this information using the SH800 cell sorter.
Originally from Wuhan, China, Dr. Tan received his SB in physics (minor: biology) from MIT in 2012, studying microbial and human evolution with Jeff Gore and Pardis Sabeti. He earned his PhD in systems biology from Harvard in 2018, developing high-precision methods for single-cell genomics with Sunney Xie. He uncovered the 3D structure of the human genome in a single cell, revealed unique chromosome organization in the mouse eye and nose, and measured the true mutation spectrum of single neurons in the normal human brain. Dr. Tan also attended the neurobiology course at the Marine Biological Laboratory in 2014 and worked with Ibrahim Cisse at MIT in 2019.
As a postdoc in Karl Deisseroth’s lab at Stanford Bioengineering (co-mentor: Howard Chang), Dr. Tan discovered major 3D genome transformation in the mouse brain after birth. He started his own lab at Stanford Neurobiology in December 2022 and discovered evolutionarily conserved 3D genome restructuring over the lifespans of both humans and mice. Dr. Tan’s awards include the HHMI FHS Finalist (2023), Baxter Scholarship (2023), BWF CASI (2021), ISFS (2021), Berry Fellowship (2020), Science & SciLifeLab Grand Prize (2019), HHMI ISRF (2015), and IPhO Gold Medal (2008). Outside the lab, he enjoys designing holiday cards, t-shirts, and music videos, and is a scientific illustrator.