My Research
Elzo de Wit did his Ph.D. research in the lab of Bas van Steensel working on the computational analysis of whole genome chromatin binding profiles (graduated in 2007). After a two-year post-doc in the lab of Edwin Cuppen working on miRNA sequencing, he moved the lab of Wouter de Laat at the Hubrecht Institute. There he studied many facets of the 3D genome, showing for instance the role of transcription factors in shaping the 3D genome in pluripotent cells. He developed a number of computational tools for the analysis of genome-wide chromosome interaction data. He started his own group at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in September 2015.
In addition to his scientific work, Elzo co-founded a biotech company, Cergentis, aimed at delivering a fundamentally new DNA diagnostic method based on the shape the genome. This method is routinely used for the detection DNA breaks in paediatric ALL.
Key Publications
- De Vree, P. J., De Wit, E., Yilmaz, M., Van De Heijning, M., Klous, P., Verstegen, M. J., ... & Eijk, P. P. (2014). Targeted sequencing by proximity ligation for comprehensive variant detection and local haplotyping. Nature biotechnology, 32(10), 1019.
- de Wit, E., Bouwman, B. A., Zhu, Y., Klous, P., Splinter, E., Verstegen, M. J., ... & Heard, E. (2013). The pluripotent genome in three dimensions is shaped around pluripotency factors. Nature, 501(7466), 227.
- de Wit, E., & de Laat, W. (2012). A decade of 3C technologies: insights into nuclear organization. Genes & development, 26(1), 11-24.
- de Wit, E., Vos, E. S., Holwerda, S. J., Valdes-Quezada, C., Verstegen, M. J., Teunissen, H., ... & de Laat, W. (2015). CTCF binding polarity determines chromatin looping. Molecular cell, 60(4), 676-684.
- Noordermeer, D., De Wit, E., Klous, P., Van De Werken, H., Simonis, M., Lopez-Jones, M., ... & De Laat, W. (2011). Variegated gene expression caused by cell-specific long-range DNA interactions. Nature cell biology, 13(8), 944.
