--- a
+++ b/ATAC/Functions/FindRegion.R
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# convert region argument to genomic coordinates
+# region can be a string, name of a gene, or GRanges object
+FindRegion <- function(
+  object,
+  region,
+  sep = c("-", "-"),
+  assay = NULL,
+  extend.upstream = 0,
+  extend.downstream = 0
+) {
+  if (!is(object = region, class2 = "GRanges")) {
+    # if separators are present in the string and we can convert the
+    # start to a number, assume we're using genomic coordinates
+    if (all(sapply(X = sep, FUN = grepl, x = region))) {
+      region <- StringToGRanges(regions = region, sep = sep)
+    } else {
+      region <- LookupGeneCoords(object = object, assay = assay, gene = region)
+      if (is.null(x = region)) {
+        stop("Gene not found")
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  region <- suppressWarnings(expr = Extend(
+    x = region,
+    upstream = extend.upstream,
+    downstream = extend.downstream
+  )
+  )
+  return(region)
+}
\ No newline at end of file