Grant: Project Grant

Social networks are sophisticated structures involving multiple relationships between individuals and other members to create a complex web of interactions. Each individual makes multiple contacts with other members of the network to establish communication channels. Typically, individuals will be connected to keep in touch, share interests or reach a common goal. In the era of social media, networks are expanding and accessible worldwide. The sum of these interactions creates complex network topologies which allow the dissemination of information beyond the confines of individual peer-to-peer interactions. In addition, social networks topologies are constantly adapting, adding and shedding individuals and connections in response to environmental changes. Similar to individuals, our genes are using networking strategies to exchange information. Indeed, each cell type in the human body plays specific roles or functions which require the presence of a unique operating system, a gene program. Each individual gene can be accessed following a precise number of commands that need to be executed in an orderly fashion. Similar to traffic lights which are coordinated through sophisticated hidden control modules, our genes talk to regulatory regions dispersed throughout the genetic material. The result is a complex network of control modules and genes physically connected in the three-dimensional environment through an extended web of relationships. This network defines which gene program will be used in a designated cell type. Our goal is to emphasize that hormonal stimulations or a genetic event in a regulatory region trigger the global response of connected genes. We hypothesize that these mechanisms are central to understand and treat diseases where gene misregulation is causative.