What is common between DNA carrying all the genetic information in your cells and plastic shopping bags ? Both of these “materials” are composed of long molecular chains that we refer to as polymers. Polymers, whether as constituents of biological or a human-made systems, can share common properties; they can respond to external stimuli, such as mechanical forces, electric fields, flows, or alteration in pH levels or temperature/concentration. They can also transiently adapt geometrical constraints. While all this versatility of polymeric soft-matter, on one hand, provides unprecedented survival and evolutionary capabilities for life (e.g., compaction of meters-long DNA in a protective nuclear shell), on the other hand, create new opportunities to design next-generation materials and pharmaceutical solutions.
Research in our lab focuses on fundamental problems related to polymers in biological and materials-science systems, such as DNA organization and hydrogels, on which we have currently either none or limited understanding. Specifically, we study the chromosome organization in cells and the potential role of protein-DNA interaction kinetics on this 3d organization . We are also interested in stimuli-responsive properties of polyelectrolyte hydrogels and polymer brushes. In our investigations, we use Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations both on atomistic and coarse-grained levels, along with analytical tools of statistical mechanics.
Research Highlights
- How anchoring genome affects the mechanical properties of cell nucleus?
The nucleus is more than a vault for DNA — it is also a mechanosensor that resists deformation and transmits physical cues to the genome. In a new modeling study, Attar et al. show that this mechanical resilience hinges on how heterochromatin is connected to the nuclear lamina. Using a coarse-grained polymer simulation of chromatin inside an elastic shell, the authors demonstrate that neither extra heterochromatin nor increased internal crosslinking alone stiffens the nucleus. Only when heterochromatin is tethered to the lamina does the nucleus gain robust, strain-dependent stiffness, with crosslinking providing a secondary boost. Our recent work by our former MA student A. Goktug Attar in colloboration with our collugues from University of Silisia (Poland) and MIT (US) recasts heterochromatin as a mechanically active scaffold whose anchoring to the nuclear periphery underpins nuclear integrity and mechanotransduction — a finding that could reshape how we think about nuclear organization in development, disease and cell migration. Read more on Nucleic Acid Research.
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