Chicago Region Physical Sciences-Oncology Center

The Chicago Region Physical Sciences-Oncology Center (CR-PSOC) is organized around the conceptual framework that addresses the spatio-temporal organization of chromatin and information transfer in cancer. This organizing framework integrates the strengths of chemistry, genetics, and physics to address chromatin dynamics in cancer. Through the use of shared model systems, Center investigators are able to integrate data from across projects to develop a new conceptual understanding of the mechanisms underlying physical rearrangement of chromatin in cancer and how that controls gene expression. The Center is composed of three interrelated project areas, each focused on different aspects of chromatin structure and function. Each project integrates emerging physical science approaches and molecular and cancer cell biology tools, as well as theory and modeling methods from the physical sciences, to achieve a quantitative and predictive understanding of the deregulation of chromatin mechanics, epigenetic regulatory pathways, gene expression, and the nuclear environment in cancer. The Center’s projects maintain a clear cancer focus rooted in understanding the molecular mechanism behind genetic alterations in chromatin regulators in cancer, particularly hematological malignancy. The scientific activities of the CR-PSOC are supported by two shared resource cores: the Nanocytometry Core and the PDX Human Tumor Model Core.