Scientific divagations: from signaling and transcription to chromatin changes in T cells

Anjana Rao describes the team effort to define the changes in chromatin accessibility in naive T cells during T(H)1 and T(H)2 cell differentiation after stimulation with TCR ligands and the appropriate cytokines. Her lab showed that differentiated T(H)1 and T(H)2 cells, which produce the cytokines IFN-gamma and IL-4, respectively, displayed distinct patterns of DNase I hypersensitivity, histone acetylation and NFAT1 transcription factor binding around the Ifng and Il4 genes. This project turned them into a 'real' immunology lab!