Epigenetic processes are essential for genome dynamics during development and cell differentiation. They are involved in establishing and maintaining cell type-specific gene expression states that underlie cellular identity and function. These processes affect all aspects of the genome organization, function, inheritance, and response to foreign or unwanted genetic material. Thus, understanding the mechanisms underlying fundamental epigenetic processes is required in order to improve our understanding of development, differentiation, and disease. The dynamics and function of the living cell rely on its transcriptome, which is the complete set of transcripts in a cell, and their quantity.
The Lamm lab studies fundamental epigenetics processes affecting gene expression and regulation in the C. elegans transcriptome. We are currently working on the interaction between the pathways of RNAi, RNA editing and genomic imprinting. We employ high-throughput sequencing of RNA and small RNAs and high-resolution genome-wide chromatin profiling combined with basic genetics and molecular biology methods.