1. Research Background:

The ability of unicellular and multicellular organisms to enter the state of diapause characterized bysuspended growth and significantly reduced energy metabolism is essential for the organism's survival in response to nutrient deprivations and other adverse environmental conditions. The diapause-like conditions can also occur during cell-autonomous attenuation of the anabolic processes and active metabolism. The naturally occurring diapause-like dormant cells include memory immune cells, dormant tissue-specific stem cells, and dormant tumor cells.

We discovered a novel epigenetic mechanism of diapause induction. We identified a group of chromatin-bound proteins that can operate as sensors of nutrient supply and contribute to establishing the diapause-specific transcriptional state. We hypothesize that naturally occurring diapause in dormant tumor cells or memory immune cells involves the nutrient- independent epigenetic switch that drives and supports dormancy.

2. Research questions addresses by the group:

Our overreaching aim is to define the mechanism of the cell-autonomous modulation of diapause-inducing epigenetic regulators. We are also interested in understanding the mechanism of transcription homeostasis during long- lasting dormancy. We will focus on defining general principles of gene transcription and mRNA maintenance during dormancy.

3. Possible projects:

1. The metabolic control of dormant cells' epigenetic state
2. Epigenetic control of transcriptional homeostasis in dormant cells
3. The transient dormancy in complex tissues and its role in longevity

4. Applied Methods and model organisms:

• In vitro cultured cell lines, mouse ES cells, ex vivo isolated mouse cells
• Chromatin studies, e.g. ChIP-sequencing, ATAC seq, sub-nuclear domains, RNA transcription, and stability. Large-scale gene analysis at the population and single-cell resolution.

5. Desirable skills and qualifications:

Molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics, immunology

6. References:

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