ROBINSON2	Microfluidics investigation of chromosome decondensation
Type	Experimental
#students	1
Orientation	Why is the scientific problem of interest at all? .
How	How is the research going to shed light on the given problem?.
What	What is the specific thing that the student will do, and how does it fit inside the overall project? This project will involve using fluidics chips installed on a high-resolution optical microscope with a full liquid handling system attached. The student will be trained to prepare human chromosomes and flow them in buffer solution into a specially designed trapping region of the fluidics chip. Reagents (proteases and RNAse) will then be introduced to observe the condensation/decondensation mechanisms of the chromosome. Once formed, these structures will be captured by fixation with formaldehyde and saved in a robot-controlled collection system.
Special Knowlegde	Note: this project is not based on UCL campus. The experiments will take place at Harwell (near Oxford) requiring significant time spent travelling
Supervisor	Prof Ian Robinson i.robinson@ucl.ac.uk