Visualization, modeling and validation of chromatin interaction data

The three dimensional (3D) organization of mammalian genomes is tightly linked to gene regulation, as it can reveal the physical interactions between distal regulatory elements and their target genes. Several recent highthroughput technologies based on Chromatin Conformation Capture (3C) have emerged (such as 4C, 5C, Hi-C and ChIA-PET) and given us an unprecedented opportunity to study the higher-order genome organization. Among them, Hi-C technology is of particular interest due to its unbiased genome-wide coverage that can measure chromatin interaction intensities between any two given genomic loci. However, Hi-C data analysis and interpretation are still in the early stages. One of the main challenges is how to efficiently visualize chromatin interaction data, so that the scientific community to visualize and use it for their own research. In addition, due to the complex experimental procedure and high sequencing cost, Hi-C has only been performed in a limited number of cell/tissue types. Finally, the underlying mechanism of chromatin interactions remains largely unclear.