Category: personal
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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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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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International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2026: inspirational women in epigenetics
Today (Wednesday 11th February) marks the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Here are just a few of many trailblazing women in epigenetics that I find inspiring: Barbara McClintock Barbara McClintock was an American biologist, and one of the first scientists to postulate that genes had to be switched on and off, even…