About me
Hi! I’m Isabella.
I’ve had a strong fascination with epigenetics and chromatin biology for many years, and decided to start The Chromatin Digest in spring 2025 during my MSc by Research in Biochemistry at the University of Oxford.
My current research focuses on using super-resolution microscopes to investigate changes to chromatin structure during DNA replication, the process in which the genome creates a copy of itself before the cell divides.
Outside of science, I act in musical theatre/drama performances, play football (and am a huge Arsenal fan!), and enjoy attending comedy nights around Oxford.
About this blog
“Epigenetics” refers to changes to gene expression which are not caused by changes to the underlying DNA sequence. It’s a rapidly developing, complex, and sometimes misunderstood field with implications in disease, development, and even behaviour.
The Chromatin Digest aims to discuss recent findings (and trends in) epigenetics in a way that is accessible to students and scientists, including those outside the field, without losing the important details.
Its title is a play-on-words: a chromatin digest is a key step in many laboratory techniques in epigenetics, while a digest traditionally refers to a magazine containing articles on different subjects.
And such a thing I aim to do here: although my background is in molecular epigenetics (especially in humans), I will try to cover a variety of subfields of epigenetics in this blog.
Above all, I wish to write in a relatable way, without the impersonal style of scientific journals, to demonstrate that scientists and science writers have a human side too.
Thanks for your interest, and I hope you enjoy this blog 😊
A note on citations
On this blog, I will be citing peer-reviewed publications wherever possible for accuracy and to credit original research/review articles, as is standard practice in science.
I am aware that some articles may not be accessible to those currently not at academic institutions.
Wherever possible, especially for concepts or definitions, I will therefore endeavour to cite links from widely accessible and reliable sources outside of journal articles, though note that this may not be always possible when referencing original work.
The Chromatin Digest 