Francesca Mattiroli receives Vidi grant for chromatin research

Chromatin: the blueprint for DNA control

Our DNA is packaged in a structure called chromatin. Chromatin acts like a blueprint: it instructs how, where, and when information on the DNA is read. Every day cells divide, making a copy of their DNA and its packaging system each time. This process ensures that their daughter cells accurately inherit the DNA information and its reading instructions. Cell divisions are crucial to keep our tissues young and healthy. In their research project, the Mattiroli group wants to understand how exactly DNA and chromatin are duplicated.

Intertwined processes

“Chromatin organization plays a vital role in ensuring healthy cells, yet how chromatin directly affects DNA replication is not well understood”, Mattiroli explains. “Within cells there are a lot of processes intertwined which makes it difficult to see what is happing exactly,” she says. “So, we recreate chromatin organization in vitro in a test tube, outside of the cell. By using a system outside of the cell, we can more precisely see for instance what chromatin proteins do during DNA replication.”

Understanding chromatin

The team plans to use a combination of advanced techniques and in vitro models to investigate chromatin organization at multiple levels. Several basic processes that occur during DNA replication are not yet fully understood. “We previously discovered that the chromatin machinery could directly affect DNA replication, and this may be different for the two DNA strands,” Mattiroli explains. Therefore, Mattiroli and her team first want to find out how chromatin and DNA synthesis work differently on each daughter strand. Next, they aim to uncover new ways that the chromatin structure affects the progress of DNA replication. Lastly, the group wants to study the roles of specific proteins that build up and break down chromatin, during DNA replication. The basic processes that the Mattiroli group will study could help our understanding of DNA replication and help other scientists discover new ways to diagnose or treat disease like cancer in the future.

About Vidi

The NWO Vidi grant is intended for researchers who have already gained several years of research experience as a postdoc after their PhD. With the funding, a maximum of 850,000 euros, they can further develop their research and add researchers to their group. NWO selects researchers based on the quality of the researcher, the innovative character of the research, the expected scientific impact of the research proposal and the possibilities for knowledge use. This year 102 grants have been granted.