Nuclear and Chromatin Dynamics | The Society for Experimental Biology (SEB)

Convenors: Katja Graumann (Oxford Brookes University, UK), Christophe Tatout (Université Clermont Auvergne- France)

The Nuclear and Chromatin Dynamics special interest group aims to be a platform for researchers interested in nuclear biology across eukaryotic kingdom. Core research themes include:

molecular trafficking into and out of the nucleus through the Nuclear Pore Complex
dynamic, composition and function of the Nuclear Envelope
linkages between nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton and role in nuclear movement
organisation of chromatin domains in nuclear space
composition and function of nuclear bodies
positioning of the nucleus relative to other cellular components

The Nuclear and Chromatin Dynamics Group fosters research into structural nuclear components and their role in the regulation of nuclear dynamics and morphology, chromatin organization, gene expression, development and interaction with the environment in various eukaryotic systems. This group promotes state of the art technologies and multidisciplinary approaches including microscopy, image analysis, chromatin domain mapping, genomics, bioinformatics and phenotyping.

Katja Graumann

Katja is a senior lecturer in cell biology at Oxford Brookes University, department of biological and medical sciences, and had previously held a Leverhulme Trust early career fellowship there. Her research interest in the plant nuclear envelope started during her PhD, when she thought to identify novel, plant nuclear envelope components. Since then, she has focused on elucidating the structural and functional significance of the nuclear envelope in higher plants, particularly looking at protein bridges that cross the membrane system to connect cellular and nuclear components.

Christophe Tatout

Christophe is professor in genetics and epigenetics at Université Clermont Auvergne (UCA), Department of Biology and leads a research team at the Institute of Genetics, Reproduction and Development (iGReD). In the early part of his scientific career (1990-1999), he contributed to Drosophila genetics working on transposable elements and Polycomb regulation, then moved to industry to lead maize and wheat genomic projects before joining UCA as a Professor in 2009. From 2017-2021 Christophe chaired the COST-Action INDEPTH (CA16212, Impact of Nuclear Domains On Gene Expression and Plant Traits; https://www.brookes.ac.uk/indepth/), bringing together researchers working towards a better understanding of how epigenetics and nuclear structure modulate gene expression to regulate complex plant traits. He is heading the Master of bioinformatics at UCA and applies 3D imaging methods to study nuclear dynamics. His current research focuses on how chromatin domains are formed, maintained and positioned in nuclear space in particular through interaction with protein components of the nuclear envelope. To investigate this question, he developed specific image analysis methods for 3D nuclei.

Christophe Tatout
University Clermont Auvergne
Institute of Genetics, Reproduction & Développement (iGReD) - France