Eric Soler

Our group (Laboratory of Molecular Hematopoiesis), investigates molecular mechanisms controlling gene expression, with strong emphasis on long-range genomic interactions, and associated pathological disorders in erythroid cells.

The major goal of the laboratory of molecular hematopoiesis is to understand how genes are controlled in time and space during dynamic processes such as cellular differentiation and development. We use hematopoiesis, and specifically eythropoiesis, as a biological system to dissect the molecular events leading to fine tuning of gene expression.

Gene expression over long genomic distances

We focus our attention on the LDB1 transcription factor complex, a major regulator of erythroid differentiation, allowing control of gene expression over long genomic distances (from several kb up to 1 Mb) through the establishment of chromatin loops connecting distal enhancers with their target genes. These types of long-range interactions are critical in gene regulatory networks and may be affected in several diseases. We showed for instance that long-range enhancer-gene interactions at the HBS1L-MYB locus are affected by genomic variants, resulting in modulation of disease severity in beta-thalassemia patients, underscoring the need to decipher such long-range interactions across the genome and to understand their impacts on gene expression.

We are focusing on different erythroid disorders such as beta thalassemias and sickle cell anemia, which are among the most common inherited genetic disorders in humans and acute erythroid leukemias, a rare but particularly aggressive subtype of leukemia for which therapeutic options are dramatically limited.