4D Chromosome Organization: Combining Polymer Physics, Knot Theory and High Performance Computing

Self-organization is a universal concept spanning numerous disciplines including mathematics, physics and biology. Chromosomes are self-organizing polymers that fold into orderly, origami-like dynamic structures. In the past decade, advances in experimental biology have provided a means to reveal information about chromosome connectivity,  allowing us to directly use this information from experiments to generate 3D models of individual genes, chromosomes and even genomes. In this talk I will present a novel data-driven modeling approach, 4DHiC, and demonstrate a number of possibilities that this method holds. X chromosome inactivation is a dynamic process whereby genes on one of the female X chromosomes are turned off. I will discuss a detailed 3D modeling study of the time-evolution of X chromosome inactivation, highlighting both global and local properties of chromosomes that result in topology-driven dynamical arrest.