SPACE seminar: Mattia Conte - "Polymer physics of 3D genome organization"

Tuesday 14 Apr 2026, 12:00 → 14:00 Europe/Rome

Speaker: Mattia Conte (Università di Napoli "Federico II")

Abstract: The human genome is packaged into chromosomes, long polymer chains confined within the tiny volume of the cell nucleus. Far from being randomly arranged, chromosomes fold into complex three-dimensional structures that are crucial for genome function, including gene regulation. However, the mechanisms driving this folding remain poorly understood. In this seminar, I will show how the spatial organization of chromosomes emerges from the statistical physics of self-interacting polymers undergoing phase transitions, such as phase separation [1, 2]. This physical understanding of genome folding provides a principled predictive framework for investigating the origins of complex genetic diseases, including cancer, opening new avenues for applications in biomedicine [3].

References:

1. Conte M. et al., “Polymer physics indicates chromatin folding variability across single cells results from state degeneracy in phase separation,” Nature Communications 11, 3289 (2020).
2. Conte M. et al., “Loop extrusion and polymer phase separation can co-exist at the single-molecule level to shape chromatin folding,” Nature Communications 13, 4070 (2022).
3. Dekker J., .., Conte M., .., Yue F., “An integrated view of the structure and function of the human 4D nucleome,” Nature 649, 759 (2026).

 

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