Jean Chatain

Background

About Jean Chatain

Physicist background, I discovered during my years of study the interface of physics and biology. I focused my Ph.D. on the problem of single-strand DNA binding proteins involved in the maintenance of telomeres, the ends of chromosomes. The link between telomeres maintenance mechanisms and cancer aroused my curiosity.My thesis subject is entitled: “Diversity and evolution, structural and functional, of proteins binding to single-stranded DNA to telomeres.” To take up this problem, I carried out the purifications of various proteins to be able to characterize the interaction mechanisms between these proteins and telomeric DNA, with the help of different experimental techniques (FRET, Biacore, EMSA, etc.). Also, I wanted to bring to my subject a vision turned on evolution by being interested in the different models of telomeres present within eukaryotes. This research axis led me to take an interest in the structure of DNA - Protein complexes. I had the opportunity to participate in electron microscopy experiments to determine the molecular envelope of these proteins in interaction with telomeric DNA.