Le Roch LabEpigenetics & Chromatin
Epigenetics & Chromatin2026
Host-cell dependent epigenetic profiles associated with survival outcomes in T. gondii infection
Ciampossin L, Ulu A, Lenz T, Li Z, Abel S, Srivastava S, White M, Wilson E, Le Roch KG
Research
Chromatin & Gene Regulation
The question
A genome that is read by how it is folded.
Deciphering the role of epigenetics and chromatin structure in gene regulation and virulence — probed with next-generation sequencing, nucleosome mapping and histone analysis.
The malaria parasite runs a tightly timed developmental programme with an unusually small set of sequence-specific transcription factors. Much of the control appears to sit above the sequence itself: in how the genome is packaged into nucleosomes, which histone marks it carries, and how the chromosomes fold inside the nucleus.
We measure that packaging directly — nucleosome positioning, histone modification, DNA methylation and three-dimensional genome architecture — then ask which of those features predict when a gene switches on. Our 3D models showed virulence gene families clustering in a repressive compartment at the nuclear periphery. More recent work has moved from description to mechanism: identifying the proteins and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) bound to chromatin, and testing what happens when they are removed.
How we look
Techniques used in this area
Chromatin & epigenome
- ChIP-seq
- CUT&Tag
- Hi-C
- BS-seq
- MeDIP-seq
- MNase-seq
Nucleosome positioning, histone modification, DNA methylation and chromosome folding — each measured genome-wide, then aligned against transcription.
Readout & validation
- RNA-seq
- Proteomics
- MudPIT mass spectrometry
- CRISPR
Platforms
- Illumina
- Oxford Nanopore
- PacBio
eLife2026
Epigenetics and chromatin structure regulate var2csa expression and the placental-binding phenotype in Plasmodium falciparum
Lenz T, Sirel M, Hoppe H, Shafeeq S, Le Roch KG, Ribacke U
eLife2025
A drug repurposing approach reveals targetable epigenetic pathways in Plasmodium vivax hypnozoites
Maher SP, Bakowski MA, Vantaux A, Flannery EL, Andolina C, Gupta M, Antonova-Koch Y, Argomaniz M, Cabrera-Mora M, Campo B, Chao AT, Chatterjee AK, Cheng WT, Chuenchob V, Cooper CA, Cottier K, Galinski MR, Harupa-Chung A, Ji H, Joseph SB, Lenz T, Lonardi S, Matheson J, Mikolajczak SA, Moeller T, Orban A, Padín-Irizarry V, Pan K, Péneau J, Prudhomme J, Roesch C, Ruberto A, Sabnis SS, Saney CL, Sattabongkot J, Sereshki S, Suriyakan S, Ubalee R, Wang Y, Wasisakun P, Yin J, Popovici J, McNamara CW, Joyner C, Nosten FH, Witkowski B, Le Roch KG, Kyle DE
eLife2024
PfMORC protein regulates chromatin accessibility and transcriptional repression in the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum
Chahine ZM, Gupta M, Lenz T, Hollin T, Abel S, Banks C, Saraf A, Prudhomme J, Bhanvadia S, Florens LA, Le Roch KG
Nature Communications2023
Novel insights into the role of long non-coding RNA in the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum
Batugedara G, Lu XM, Hristov B, Abel S, Chahine Z, Hollin T, Williams D, Wang T, Cort A, Lenz T, Thompson TA, Prudhomme J, Tripathi AK, Xu G, Cudini J, Dogga S, Lawniczak M, Noble WS, Sinnis P, Le Roch KG