Oli Bell and Nate Hathaway developed an approach to effectively study chromatin dynamics in living cells.   The approach involves using small molecule inducers of proximity to add or quickly remove different chromatin regulatory activities to one allele of a single gene in living cells or even a  living mouse.  His work showed that one can create H3K9Me3 repressive domains that propagate away from an initiation site and reach a domain of over 10,000 bp.  In addition, he tested the cellular memory of these domains and found that they are largely dependent on continuous stimulation and can be removed independent of proliferation.  In August 2013 Oli will join the faculty of the IMP in Vienna.