How Forces Transmitted from a Cell's Environment Affect DNA Organization

Explore a detailed scientific lecture by Professor Vivek Shenoy from the University of Pennsylvania, delivered at the Isaac Newton Institute, examining the complex relationship between cellular environmental forces and DNA organization. Delve into the fascinating world of chromatin dynamics, where microscale environmental changes influence cell behavior and phenotype through mechanisms that are still being uncovered. Learn how chromatin functions as a dynamic nanomaterial whose configuration responds to chemo-mechanical cues, with particular focus on how soft environmental signals trigger chromatin relocalization and compaction at the nuclear boundary. Discover the role of methylation and acetylation in nuclear stiffness distribution, and understand how these mechanical input responses become disrupted in diseased human fibrous tissue cells. Gain insights into potential therapeutic approaches as the lecture explores chromatin dynamics and plasticity as key indicators of disease progression, presented as part of the "New statistical physics in living matter: non equilibrium states under adaptive control" series.