The B.S.R.C. “Alexander Fleming” is one of the leading biomedical research centres in Greece, as evidenced by two recent “Excellence” awards. The two PIs participating in this proposal have unique competences and an established international reputation in the following areas: (1) George Panayotou has twelve years experience in the analysis of macromolecular interactions, primarily involving biosensor technology (BIAcore) and more recently mass spectrometry; (2) Dimitris Thanos is one of the leaders in the field of epigenetic control of gene expression. The area of epigenetic mechanisms in which this group will contribute is identified by the call as an essential component of the proposal.

• Salim, K., Bottomley, M.J., Querfurth, E., Zvelebil, M., Gout, I., Scaife, R., Margolis, R. L., Gigg, R., Smith, C.I.E., Driscoll, P.C., Waterfield, M.D. and Panayotou, G. (1996) Distinct specificity in the recognition of phosphoinositides by the Pleckstrin Homology domains of dynamin and Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk). EMBO J. 15: 6241-6250.
• Spanopoulou, E., Zaitseva, F., Wang, F.-H., Santagata, S., Baltimore, D. and Panayotou, G. (1996) The homeodomain region of Rag-1 reveals the parallel mechanisms of bacterial and V(D)J recombination. Cell 87: 263-276.
• Lomvardas S, Thanos D. (2002) Modifying gene expression programs by altering core promoter chromatin architecture. Cell 110: 261-71.
• Lomvardas S., and Thanos, D. (2001) Nucleosome sliding via TBP DNA binding in vivo. Cell 106: 685-696.
• Galioti T, Chen G, Thanos D. (2002) Deciphering the transcriptional histone acetylation code for a human gene. Cell 111:381-92.