Aktan continues to be amazing. He received the PULSe graduate student in research award as well as a Bilsland Graduate Fellowship. He gave an amazing talk and is working hard on getting his many projects finished up. 
Also pictured future lab member Surbhi with her poster award!!

Engagement of DNA and H3K27me3 by the CBX8 chromodomain drives chromatin association.​

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30597065

Several manuscripts we collaborated on are published! 

The Musselman Lab
They published a nice manuscript characterizing the SANT1 domain of EZH2 using NMR. They find that it recognizes the the histone H4 N-terminal tail and that this binding is antagonized by various activating marks. "The EZH2 SANT1 domain is a histone reader providing sensitivity to the modification state of the H4 tail."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30700785

The Weake Lab
They characterized a cool new chiffon histone acetyltransferase (CHAT) complex unique to flies in: "The Drosophila Dbf4 ortholog Chiffon forms a complex with Gcn5 that is necessary for histone acetylation and viability."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30559249

Thanks for including us in your awesome science!

We are sad to see Jane leave, but happy that she gets to spend more time with family and hobbies. Jane set up the lab and kept everything running for many years. We appreciate everything you've done for us! 

After 8 long years, our high throughput screen for BAF inhibitors is published! What a great collaborative effort with the Crabtree Lab, the Broad Institute and the amazing Mahmoudi Lab! These compounds inhibit just a subset of BAF function and serve as HIV latency reversal agents. There's still more to do in order to optimize, characterize and utilize these macrocycles, but we are excited that the first step is published. 
​https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30197195

Katelyn is hooded and heads out for bigger and better things at the NCI, working in the laboratory of Laufey Amundadottir in the division of epidemiology and genetics. Good luck! We will miss you.

New MCMP graduate student Sandra Ordonez Rubiano joins the lab. She is interested in the chemical biology of chromatin and will be working on the regulation and targeting of PBAF bromodomains. 

Congratulations to Katelyn on a successful defense! I may have cried a little. ​

Students in the lab have had a banner month for fellowships!

Rachel receives the Purdue University Cancer Center undergraduate research fellowship for Summer 2018
​Katelyn receives the Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship from the MCMP Department for Fall 2018
Libby receives the Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship from PULSe for the 2018-2019 school year.
Aktan receives the Purdue University Cancer Center SIRG graduate student fellowship for the 2018-2019 school year. 

Wow! Congratulations to everyone in lab for your awards of these competitive fellowships!