Mechanisms for remodelling chromatin

Tom’s main area of interest is to understand how chromatin structure is reconfigured during gene regulation. A topic of special interest is the action of ATP-dependent nucleosome remodelling enzymes related to the budding yeast Snf2 protein. At one level Tom investigates the mechanisms of these molecular machines using structural and biochemical approaches. Genomic approaches now provide a powerful means of assessing function both in model organisms and humans where Snf2 related proteins are linked to a variety of diseases including cancer.