We are happy to share our new paper in Nucleic Acids Research!

"Boolean logic links chromatin accessibility states to gene expression variability across cell types"

We developed ocrRBBR, a computational framework that decodes combinatorial cis-regulatory logic from paired ATAC-RNA data. Instead of simple correlations, ocrRBBR infers interpretable Boolean rules like:
(¬OCR_A ∧ OCR_B) or (OCR_A ∧ OCR_B)
These rules capture everything from synergistic enhancer interactions to redundant/additive logic, explaining how OCR combinations drive cell-type-specific gene expression.

Key findings:
- Cell-type-specific genes rely on selective Boolean rules integrating signals from more OCRs (including distal enhancers)
- Housekeeping genes use simpler, modular rules with fewer OCRs
- Cell-type-specific rules enrich for lineage-defining pathways
- This provides a mechanistically interpretable framework linking chromatin accessibility to gene regulation!
Full paper link:
https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/54/6/gkag230/8558641