DNA replication, transcription, and repair are essential process of a cell. Dysregulation of these processes leads to diseases such as cancer. The mechanical properties of DNA such as its persistence length and topology affect these processes, too. There are many proteins interacting with DNA affecting DNA’s mechanical properties, too. John Marko from Northwestern University is a theoretical biophysicist whose research focus on the physical and mechanical properties of DNA and chromosomes.
He develops theoretical frameworks to describe DNA elasticity, torsional mechanics, supercoiling, and stretching at the single molecular level. He has also made contributions to understand DNA and chromosomes in the cellular context including models to describe DNA loop extrusion to compact chromosome during mitosis and how molecular crowding affects the binding of the transcriptional factors.
To learn his work, please check out the workshop of random walks in biological physics. In a 3-day workshop, he will give a colloquium and 4 lectures on DNA, chromosomes, and nuclei. In addition, Jae-Hyung Jeon from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in South Korea also join force in this workshop to give 2 lectures on stochastic modeling on anomalous diffusion process in Living Systems. For more details and registration, please check out this website https://indico.phys.sinica.edu.tw/event/490/overview.
