Author: Isabella
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In Conversation With… Yolanda Markaki
Yolanda Markaki is a group leader and microscopist based at the University of Leicester, UK. Her lab, set up in 2023, focuses on the mechanisms of X chromosome inactivation. She is also passionate about gender equality in science. Thank you for joining me! Can you please tell me a bit about what you are working…
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In Conversation With… Jonathan Henninger
Jonathan Henninger runs a laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. His lab explores how RNA molecules regulate gene expression at multiple scales in health and disease. Can you tell me a little bit about your background and where you are now? Yeah, absolutely. I did my undergraduate degree in my hometown, at…
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Old proteins, new tricks
In order to switch genes on and off, chromatin has to be opened and shut, enabling the DNA to become open to the whim of the rest of the nucleus for transcription. This is called chromatin remodelling, and it’s far from an easy task because our DNA is wrapped around huge protein complexes called nucleosomes.…
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In Conversation With… Reinhard Stöger
For the first instalment of the In Conversation With… series, I sat down with Reinhard Stöger, who runs a laboratory at the University of Nottingham, UK and is a member of the Epigenetics Society Board. Really good to speak with you! Firstly, can you tell me a little bit about your background? Yeah, of course.…
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April-June 2026: Research Roundup
Hey everyone! After some time away, I thought I should start doing quarterly summaries of recent epigenetics news — short and to the point! April: CRISPR gets its latest upgrade CRISPR-Cas9 complexes have been incredibly useful for editing the genome, however they tend to barge in and make edits/cuts regardless of methylation. A new modified…
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Decoding the molecular wiring underlying early development
Schematic of a poised enhancer, its associated modifications, and how it contacts its target gene. Designed in Biorender by me, 2023 (Figure 1B, BSc thesis) In the earliest stages of human development, it’s vital that genes are expressed at very specific times and places. If this goes wrong, developmental defects can arise. Enhancer regions, particularly…
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The Chromatin Digest a year on
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…
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Stressed cells offload damaged DNA to their neighbours
During cellular stress, cells bundle broken DNA into micronuclei, which are then shuttled through microscopic tubes like a train travelling through a tunnel. Picture from here, under CC BY 2.0. DNA is precious; without it, our cells would not be able to survive. As such, it’s kept safely within the confines of the nucleus. The…
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Meaning only emerges when you look at the wider picture: what a drug safety meeting taught me about epigenetics
Guest Blog Series 2026 By Hemlata Pant A group of people in a meeting room. Picture by Christina Morello. Image is in the public domain. I first came across epigenetics at A level. Back then, it felt reassuringly neat. I learned that adding chemical tags to DNA or histones could tighten or loosen chromatin, and…
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Chromatin couples are needed to form loops
Guest Blog Series 2026 By Andres Hernandez Maduro Chromosomal DNA strands are long. In each of your body cells, there is approximately two metres worth of DNA packed tightly in a chamber (the nucleus) around five micrometres in diameter. They are also quite sticky, and if thrown into a random soup of molecules will tend…