Meet Paula Agudelo Garcia of the University of Pennsylvania! The Colombian national is a postdoctoral fellow in Shelley Berger’s lab who is among the 440+ researchers who virtually attended this year’s Genome Organization & Nuclear Function meeting. This is her first CSHL meeting and she shares all that she’s picked up from her inaugural attendance.

Tell us about your research.
There is a strong connection between metabolic processes and chromatin remodeling. In fact, most chromatin modifying enzymes use metabolic products as cofactors or substrates. Both cancer development and T cell differentiation are processes that rely heavily on both chromatin and metabolic remodeling. My research focuses on the relationship between metabolism and the epigenome in the context of T cell dysfunction and cancer development.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
I have always been interested in how metabolism dictates changes in gene expression through chromatin modification. In my PhD, I explored the role of Histone Acetyltransferase 1 in chromatin assembly and cellular metabolism. I decided to continue with my interests in this area during my postdoc to learn more about how metabolic defects can alter the epigenome during disease development.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
I would say curiosity. The fact that we always want to learn more about what is happening inside the cell or how different process are regulated. Discovering and learning new things keeps us motivated and inspired.

What impact do you hope to make through your work?
At the beginning of many projects, we focus on the basic biological questions that later set up the stage for the development of new therapeutic treatments for different diseases or that contribute to a better understanding of the big picture of different biological process. I hope that my research will help to elucidate new mechanisms of how chromatin is influenced by metabolism and will aid to develop therapeutic strategies in the context of cancer immunology.

What do you love most about being a researcher?
Using my creativity to face challenges and solve problems. Learning and discovering new things.

What drew you to attend this meeting?
This meeting is very relevant to my research and I wanted to listen about how different labs are looking at genome structure and nuclear function from different angles and in different systems, and learn about new technologies being developed in the field.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
New techniques and approaches are constantly being developed and it is important to be up to speed so we can use them to answer our own scientific questions. It is also very encouraging to listen to the experts in the field talk of how their labs are incorporating the newest ideas and latest features to learn more about how the genome structure is regulated and influences biological phenomena like cell differentiation, embryonic development, neuronal function among others.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
This meeting is very helpful for all scientists at any stage in their career. The scientific content is very diverse regarding the techniques being used, we saw the implementation of genomic and imaging approaches for example. In addition, there was a wide spectrum of organisms and model systems being used to investigate different aspects regarding genome conformation and nuclear function.

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
Definitely the fact that the meeting was done virtually due to the COVID-19 situation, but it was very encouraging to see the effort of the organizers, speakers and attendees to discuss science and generate new ideas to move the field forward.

Thank you to Paula for being this week's featured visitor. To meet other featured researchers - and discover the wide range of science that takes part in a CSHL meeting or course - go here.