Understanding gene regulation from the dark genome. Wendy Bickmore FRS FMedSci FRSE is Director of the MRC Human Genetics Unit, Edinburgh. After studying biochemistry at Oxford, and completing a PhD in molecular biology at Edinburgh, Wendy established her research group as a fellow of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine. Her work focusses on how the three-dimensional organization of the human genome shapes its function. She investigates the role of the non-coding ‘dark’ genome in regulating gene expression and how 3D chromosome folding allows enhancers to communicate with target genes. Recognised for her leadership and contributions, she received a CBE for services to women in science, is a fellow of the Royal Society, and a foreign member of the US National Academy of Sciences. Wendy Bickmore Bickmore Lab website Lab members Dr Shipra Bhatia, Shelagh Boyle, Dr Simon Biddie, Dr Elias Friman, Dr Luciana Gomez Acuna, Dr Iain Williamson, Riya Madan, Karin Purshouse, Giovanna Weykopf, and Alexis Ioannou Research The complexity of vertebrates comes not from the number of genes in the genome but from the 100s of thousands, perhaps millions, of enhancers that regulate gene expression with exquisite precision in time and space. We do not understand how enhancers communicate to their target genes, often over long genomic distances. We aim to understand how 3D organisation of the vertebrate genome contributes to the ability of enhancers to work over large genomic distances. Combining the tools of synthetic biology and tuneable acute protein degradation we are currently investigating the role of loop extrusion by the cohesin complex in facilitating enhancer function from a distance. We develop and deploy synthetic transcription factors that allow us to activate genes from enhancers over different genomic distances in embryonic stem cell models. We also use synthetic genomics to re-design and test the importance of genomic context for enhancer function in both stem cell models and in involve zebrafish development. Image Selected publications Kane L, Williamson I, Flyamer IM. Kumar Y, Hill RE, Lettice LA, Bickmore WA. (2022) Cohesin is required for long-range enhancer action. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 29: 891-897. Friman ET, Flyamer IM, Marenduzzo D, Boyle S, Bickmore WA (2023) Ultra-long-range interactions between active regulatory elements. Genome Res. 14:gr.277567.122. Gómez Acuña LI, Flyamer I, Boyle S, Friman ET, Bickmore WA. (2024) Transcription decouples estrogen-dependent changes in enhancer-promoter contact frequencies and spatial proximity. PLoS Genet. 20:e1011277. Williamson I, Graham KA, Woolf M, Becher H, Hill RE, Bickmore WA*, Lettice LA*. (2025) Bystander activation across a TAD boundary supports a cohesin-dependent transcription cluster model for enhancer function. Genes Dev. 39:1012-1024. This article was published on 2026-04-23
