Future work to dissect the regional differences in susceptibility to chromatin decompaction associated with NIPBL mutation, to establish how this level of chromatin structure is linked to the disruption of gene expression and to examine this in different cell types and at different developmental stages in animal models of CdLS has the potential to provide new insight into the mechanisms of CdLS-like diseases. The gene discussed is NIPBL; the disease is Cornelia de Lange syndrome.