Mechanical forces and the 3D genome

Traditionally, the field of genomics has been studied from a biochemical perspective. Besides chemical influences, cells are subject to a variety of mechanical signals from their sur-rounding tissue microenvironment. These mechanical signals can not only cause changes to a cell's physical structure but can also lead to alterations in their genomes and gene expression programs. Understanding the mechanical control of genome organization and expression may provide a new perspective on gene regulation.