The Chromatin Structure and Function Gordon Conference covers all aspects of chromatin organization and its impact on nuclear processes, such as gene expression and DNA repair. Themes include:

• The folding of nucleosomal arrays into higher order structures and the role of linker histones and of core histone variants
• Chromatin assembly at the replication fork, in association with repair of damaged DNA and within highly transcribed genes where chromatin is disrupted by the passage of RNA polymerase
• Energy-dependent transitions of nucleosome structure, the relocation and disassembly of nucleosomes and the ATP-dependent exchange of histone variants
• Signals that converge in a combinatorial pattern of chemical histone modifications and their interpretation by interacting factors
• The requirements for transcription initiation as well as elongation in a chromatin context
• The generation of silent states by reinforcing positive feed-back loops, as a hallmark of heritable, epigenetic gene silencing that occurs normally during development, but also erroneously in some tumours
• Dosage compensation systems that coordinate the expression of all individual genes of a complex eukaryote through modulation of chromatin structure
• The rules that govern the arrangements of chromosomes within the nucleus and the compartmentalisation of nuclei into functional domains