https://phys.org/news/2018-06-grainyhead-master-dna-access.html

Stein Aerts, professor at VIB-KU Leuven, is interested in understanding the fine-tuned processes that govern this regulation. "Over the last decade, we have seen a shift from studying genes to studying gene regulation. Now that we can systematically profile genomes, epigenomes and transcriptomes, the challenge is to discover the rules that link DNA sequence with chromatin state and gene expression. In other words, we try to disentangle the regulatory code of our genome."

Aerts and his team set out to study how DNA sequence information, chromatin accessibility and gene expression are linked in epithelial cells. These cells line the outer surfaces of organs and form the outer layer of the skin.