TRANSISTOR creates a training network where young scientists carry their projects around a hub of expert laboratories, receiving specialist scientific training at each node on the hub. The projects themselves form part of a coherent larger project, made up of overlapping subunits, building up to form an integrated study of gene regulation, that will be used to develop bioinformatic tools of use to the entire community.

The participants' convergent biological interests and complementary technological expertise, make it possible to devise comprehensive individual training programs, which combine to synergistic effect, producing an integrated project on a scale that would be impossible to achieve without funding at the EU level. Biology increasingly depends on genomics; requiring biologists to become proficient in bioinformatics. There is a shortage of researchers with a solid background in "wet" biology and bioinformatics. TRANSISTOR addresses this deficiency, helping the European Research Area to achieve critical mass at the interface between developmental genetics, genomics and bioinformatics.

We use regulatory genes, controlled by inducible systems, to trigger key steps in flower, fruit and seed development. Micro-array technology will reveal changes in expression of thousands of genes at once. This data will be used by bioinformatics specialists to find co-regulated genes. The promoters of these genes will be analysed for common cis-elements in their promoters. A series of experiments will be conducted to elucidate the promoter architecture of the identified genes and the factors that bind to their promoters.

Furthermore, the biological relevance of these interactions will be studied. Data from the whole project will be used for development of new generic bioinformatics tools that can be used to analyse complex regulatory networks in multi-cellular organisms.