Project Grant F32GM165071

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences awarded The Research Foundation For The State University Of New York $153,560 on December 1, 2026, under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) to investigate the role of intrinsically disordered regions in regulating FOXG1-chromatin binding dynamics.

The research investigates how intrinsically disordered regions outside the DNA-binding domain of FOXG1, a transcription factor regulating neurodevelopment, influence its function in chromatin binding, nuclear organization, and gene regulation. The work builds on preliminary findings that FOXG1 forms nanoscale clusters in cell nuclei that drive tight chromatin binding and that disease-associated variants with truncations in the central intrinsically disordered region lose this clustering and phase separation capability. The project will examine the conserved enrichment of aromatic amino acids within the central intrinsically disordered region and the role of biomolecular condensate formation via phase separation in FOXG1's association with DNA, with potential implications for understanding dozens of disease-associated mutations identified within these regions.

Performance occurs at Buffalo, New York with a completion date of June 30, 2029. The Research Foundation For The State University Of New York, doing business as Sponsored Projects Services, serves as the fiscal agent administering the award on behalf of the State University of New York system. This is a Project Grant assistance type.