Nicole Francis
Mechanisms of epigenetic inheritance

The nature of epigenetic information and how it is inherited. Biochemical methods are used to study how Drosophila Polycomb Group proteins affect chromatin and how changes in chromatin can be inherited. Future studies will incorporate use of FRET and mechanical tweezers approaches.

Publications:
Lavigne, M., Francis, N.J., King, I.F.G. and Kingston, R.E. 2004. Propagation of silencing: recruitment and repression of naïve chromatin in trans by Polycomb repressed chromatin. Mol. Cell 13: 415-425.

Francis, N.J., Kingston, R.E. and Woodstock, C.L. 2004. Chromatin compaction by a Polycomb Group complex. Science 306:1574-1577.

Francis, N.J., Saurin, A.J., Shao, Z. and Kingston, R.E. 2001. Reconstitution of a functional core polycomb repressive complex. Mol. Cell 8: 545-556.