Hi everyone! I hope you all have had a good start to the summer.

Today (8th June 2026) marks a year since my first post, which has completely flown by. I decided to write this blog in 2025 to provide a platform for recent epigenetics research, since there are very few science communication efforts dedicated solely to this field.

Writing this blog has been great fun and I’ve been able to meet some great new people through it. It’s grown significantly more than I expected. Thank you to everyone who has read articles, shared social media posts, or contributed.

Please still consider getting involved — guest blogs are still open!

New series!

To celebrate a year of this blog, I am launching a new series called “In Conversation With”. For this series, I’ll be interviewing epigenetics researchers across career stages and fields to find out about their journeys, current work, and what they are most optimistic about in the field.

Stay tuned 🙂

Personal updates

Alsoooo… outside of this blog, the past few months have genuinely been crazy. I will try not to get emotional writing this, haha.

Firstly, at the end of April, I submitted my MSc by Research thesis. I arrived with little to no microscopy experience, but I did have curiosity, and I quickly learnt that this is not something to be underestimated in science.

3 weeks later in mid-May, I passed my MSc(Res) thesis defence. This is an exam where you have to back up all your work in front of a panel (in my case, two examiners). And I was SO nervous. It lasted around 3 hours and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would?? My group and I went for pizza and a pint afterwards (not pictured but both were great, and needed!).

Moreover, those that know me well are aware of various significant events in my personal life over the past year and a half. Submitting was therefore a massive deal for me.

My time at Oxford has been challenging at times, but overall enjoyable. Joining a football team for the first time was definitely a highlight. OK, I wasn’t exactly Thierry Henry, but I hope my singular goal scored for Reuben College will go down in history 😉 I also got involved in a summer garden play, went to a few gigs, and most of my free Sundays were spent exploring different parts of Oxfordshire.

Some highlights…

A new story is out…

And the final piece of news from me is that some of my BSc thesis work was published today as part of a paper in Cell Reports. I’m really grateful to have worked on this project from 2023-24 and am super excited to see this out!!

Some enhancers in early development are “poised”, harbouring both active and repressive marks at once. These poised enhancers contact the promoters of genes which are important in driving development. Our paper sheds light on the mechanism behind enhancer poising, and when in development it occurs.

I will no doubt cover it in more detail soon, but you can read our work here 🙂

---

I’ve got several things planned over summer, both work- and fun-wise. I am definitely going to make sure I rest, haha. Plus, of course, I will continue to write this blog!

Thanks again for reading my blog and here’s to another year!

Isabella x

---