Epigenetics Podcast

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Claudia Keller Valsecchi from the Institute for Molecular Biology in Mainz to talk about her work on gene dosage alterations in evolution and ageing. Claudia Keller-Valsecchi's team focuses on understanding the fundamental mechanisms of how cellular function in eukaryotes is influenced by gene copy number variation. Recent findings indi...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Lucas Farnung from Harvard Medical School to talk about his work on the structural analysis of nucleosomes during transcription. Lucas Farnung started his scientific career in Patrick Cramer's lab, trying to solve the cryo-EM structure of RNA polymerase II transcribing through a nucleosome. This project spanned some time before being pu...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Paula Desplats from the University of California San Diego to talk about her work on DNA Methylation Alterations in Neurodegenerative Diseases. The laboratory of Paula desalts focuses on decoding the role of epigenetic mechanisms, like DNA methylation, on the onset and progression of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzhe...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Jop Kind from Hubrecht Institute to talk about his work on single cell DamID, EpiDamID, and Lamina Associated Domains (LADs). Jop Kind started out developing single cell DamID (scDamID), based on the DamID technique. First, this technique was adapted to a microscopic readout which enabled them to follow the localisation of chromatin dom...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Charlotte Proudhon from the Institut Curie to talk about her work on circulating tumor DNA and circulating Epi-mutations as biomarkers in cancer. Charlotte Proudhon started out her research career by investigating circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). This kind of DNA is shed into the bloodstream by apoptotic tumor cells and can be analyzed af...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Luciano Di Croce from the Center of Genomic Regulation in Barcelona to talk about his work on epigenetic landscapes in cancer. The Di Croce Lab focuses on the Polycomb Complex and its influence on diseases like cancer. Luciano Di Croce started out his research career investigating the oncogenic transcription factor PML-RAR. They could s...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Ines Drinnenberg from Institute Curie to talk about her work on the formation of CenH3-deficient kinetochores. The laboratory of Ines Drinneberg focuses on centromeres and how different strategies of centromere organization have evolved in different organisms. While most eukaryotes have monocentric chromosomes, where spindle attachment...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Paul Shiels from the University of Glasgow to talk about his work on the effects of environmental cues on the epigenome and longevity. Paul Shiels and his team focus on the question on how age related health is influenced by the environment. Factors like the socio-economic position, nutrition, lifestyle and the environment can influence...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Sarah Kimmins from Université de Montreal to talk about her work on the epigenetics of human sperm cells. The focus of Sarah Kimmins and her lab is how sperm and offspring health is impacted by the father's environment. The core of this is the sperm epigenome, which has been implicated in complex diseases such as infertility, cancer, di...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Peter Sarkies from University of Oxford Biochemistry to talk about his work on Transgenerational Inheritance of Epimutations. The team in the Sarkies lab focuses on investigating the connections between epigenetic gene regulation and evolution. The lab performs evolution experiments in the nematode C. elegans to determine if evolution c...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Karen Arndt from the University of Pittsburgh to talk about her work on transcription elongation control by the Paf1 complex. Karen Arndt and her lab investigate the process of transcriptional elongation and how RNA polymerase II overcomes obstacles like nucleosomes. One of the proteins that helps overcome those obstacles is the Paf1 co...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Karim-Jean Armache from New York University - Grossman School of Medicine to talk about his work on the structural analysis of Polycomb Complex Proteins and molecular mechanisms of chromatin modifying enzymes. Karim-Jean Armache started his research career with the structural characterization of the 12-subunit RNA Polymerase II. After s...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Sarah Kinkley from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Genetics to talk about her work on PHF13 and its role in chromatin and transcription. The Kinkley laboratory focuses mainly on unraveling the mechanism of action of the transcription factor PHF13 (PHC Finger Protein 13). PHF13 is a reader of the epigenetic mark H3K4 trimethylation...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Akis Papantonis from the University Medical Center Göttingen to talk about his work on genome organisation mediated by RNA Polymerase II. The research of the Papantonis Laboratory focuses on investigating how environmental signalling stimuli are integrated by chromatin to control homeostatic to deregulated functional transitions. In mor...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Melissa Harrison from the University of Wisconsin-Madison to talk about her work on the “Pioneer” Transcription Factors - Zelda and Grainyhead - and their role at the maternal-to-zygotic transition. The Harrison lab studies how differentiation and development are driven by coordinated changes in gene expression. To do this, the targets...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Elena Gomez-Diaz from the Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine López-Neyra at the Spanish National Research Council. She share with us her work on the Epigenetics in Human Malaria Parasites. Elena Gómez-Díaz and her team are focusing on understanding how epigenetic processes are implicated in host-parasite interactions by regulatin...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Nick Pervolarakis from Active Motif to talk about bioinformatic analysis in epigenetics research. While many “bench scientists” are familiar with the workflows of ChIP-Seq, ATAC-Seq and CUT&Tag, and even the preparation and analysis of the libraries, the steps between sequencing and fully analyzed data is sometimes thought of as a myste...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Ben Delatte Research Scientist at Active Motif to talk about his work on Anchor Based Bisulfite Sequencing. Whole Genome Bisulfite Sequencing (WGBS) is the current standard for DNA methylation profiling. However, this approach is costly as it requires sequencing coverage over the entire genome. Here we introduce Anchor-Based Bisulfite S...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Susanne Mandrup from the University of Southern Denmark to talk about her work on the role of enhancer communities in adipocyte differentiation. The Laboratory of Susanne Mandrup focuses on the effect of enhancers and enhancer communities on the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cell into adipocytes and osteoblasts. The team has shown...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Marco Trizzino from Thomas Jefferson University to talk about his work on transposable elements in gene regulation and evolution. Marco Trizzino and his team focus on characterising transposable elements and how they affect gene regulation, evolution and ageing in primates. They could show that transposable elements that integrated into...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Marcela Sjöberg from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile to talk about her work on the hydroxymethylation landscape in immune cells. At the beginning of her career Marcela Sjöberg worked on Aurora B and Polycomb and how modifications placed by them modulate the binding of RNA Pol II. Later, her focus shifted to examine cytosine...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Tim Petros from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the NIH to talk about his work on Single Cell Epigenomics in Neuronal Development.  The Petros lab focuses on “interneurons”, their diversity and how environmental signals interact to generate this diversity. This subgroup of neurons c...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Nada Jabado from McGill University to talk about her work on oncohistones as drivers of Pediatric Brain Tumors. Nada Jabado and her team were amongst the first to identify mutations in Histone 3.3 Tails which lead to differentially remodeled chromatin in pediatric glioblastoma. Mutations that occur include the Lysine at position 27 and...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Goncalo Castelo-Branco from the Karolinska Institute to talk about his work on the characterization of epigenetic states in the Oligodendrocyte Lineage. The group from Gonçalo Castelo-Branco’s lab focuses on characterizing epigenetic states of oligodendrocytes, with the aim to understand their contribution to diseases like multiple scle...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Active Motif’s own Yuan Xue to talk about some of the challenges of performing ATAC-Seq. ATAC-Seq stands for Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin with high-throughput sequencing and was initially described by Jason Buenrostro in 2013. The ATAC-Seq method relies on next-generation sequencing (NGS) library construction using the hyp...