We work at the spatial biology-technology interface to understand chromatin<–>synapse communication in the mammalian brain.
The Cremins lab aims to understand how chromatin works through long-range physical folding mechanisms to encode neuronal specification and long-term synaptic plasticity in healthy and diseased neural circuits. We pursue a multi-disciplinary approach integrating data across biological scales in the brain, including molecular Chromosome-Conformation-Capture sequencing technologies, single-cell imaging, optogenetics, genome engineering, induced pluripotent stem cell differentiation to neurons/organoids, and in vitro and in vivo electrophysiological measurements.

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Mike Guo posts his preprint finding an increased burden of STR expansions associated with sporadic Alzheimer’s disease:https://medrxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.11.16.23298623v1
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Harshini Chandrashekar gives a talk on her work at Penn’s Genetic retreat in Bear Mountain Creek resort.
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Thomas, Ken, Ravi, and Linda’s paper on the discovery of BREACHes in fragile X syndrome is accepted. Our warmest congratulations to all authors for their teamwork, resilience, and persistence!
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Warm congratulations to Daniel Emerson on defending his outstanding thesis. Congratulations Dr. Emerson!
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Congratulations PhD candidate Thomas Malachowski on passing your thesis proposal!
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Han-Seul Ryu has been selected by the MSTP Awards Committee as the 2024 recipient of the Michael S. Brown Fellowship, which carries with it two years of support for her graduate studies.
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Our alumna Jackie Valerie – one of the inaugural members of the SEEDs program – defended her PhD at MIT in Jim Collins lab. Congratulations Dr. Valerie!
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Jordan’s work in collaboration with the Joyce lab (High-throughput Oligopaint screen identifies druggable regulators of genome folding) is published in Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06340-w
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Han-Seul Ryu passes their BE qualifying exam. Congratulations Han-Seul – way to go!
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Kelly Feng’s work in collaboration with the Sarma lab (G-quadraplexes associated with R-loops promote CTCF binding,) is published in Molecular Cell https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2023.07.009
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Thomas Gilgenast’s work in collaboration with the Walsh, Akbarian, and Brennand labs (Schizophrenia-associated somatic copy number variants from 12,834 cases reveal contribution to risk and recurrent, isoform-specific NRXN1 disruptions) is published in Cell Genomics https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xgen.2023.100356
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The lab contributed to a review on the NIH 4DN common fund initiative (Spatial and temporal organization of the genome: Current state and future aims of the 4D nucleome project) – and it is published in Molecular Cell https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2023.06.018
Our work is supported by the New York Stem Cell Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Neural Disorders and Stroke, NIH Common fund initiatives, the Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and the NIH 4D Nucleome Common Fund Initiative.