Cohesin - Studying DNA Entrapment at the Oxford DNA Topology Lab

 

    Every time I enter the University of Oxford's dazzlingly pink Department of Biochemistry, I feel as though I have been actively transported into a cell. Even the spherical light fixtures are vaguely reminiscent of vesicles, and each laboratory is compartmentalised by a glass divider. Frantic researchers move in power strokes along the corridor tracks, cotransporting trolleys of flasks and papers. It is in the main foyer that I am welcomed by a team of masters students, who target my delivery towards their DNA Topology lab, run by Dr Madhusudhan Srinivasan. A range of techniques used to study the function and behaviour of cohesin in action are demonstrated to me by the research members, each with a different specific enquiry under the broader topological study. 

    Above is a summary of my findings after a sunny afternoon spent shuttling samples between the basement and the uppermost laboratory - a few hours well and informatively spent.