Scientist interested in heterochromatin formation and transcription regulation, studying transposons in @rberrens.bsky.social lab @uniofoxford Former Brockdorff lab member.
Mafalda Almeida 🇵🇹 🇪🇺 🇬🇧
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🧵 Happy to share that the final version of our study is finally out in @natcomms.nature.com today:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
What started as an unexpected observation—that SETDB1 depletion accelerates X chromosome silencing—led us to uncover a role for SETDB1 in regulating Xist transcription.
Many thanks to my co-authors @guifengwei.bsky.social, Adam Cawte, and Tatyana Nesterova for helping bring this story together, and to Neil Brockdorff for all his support.
SETDB1 recruitment to the Xist locus is mediated by the HUSH complex, but not by KAP1. HUSH is known to bind RNAs derived from intronless genes and genes with unusually long exons. Although Xist is not intronless, it contains two very long exons, making it an especially attractive target for HUSH.
These findings raise the possibility that SETDB1 acts as a pacesetter, coordinating regulated Xist expression, the silencing of a single X chromosome, and cellular differentiation.
Upon Xist expression from one X chromosome in female cells, SETDB1 deposits H3K9me3 over the active Xist allele, dampening Xist transcription and regulating the silencing process. This asymmetric H3K9me3 enrichment between alleles is resolved after a few days of differentiation.
Do you want to move to Oxford and join our lab? There is a computational biologist position open atm to develop and implement tools to analyse TE expression in single cell long read data and more. Apply! #TEsky #UniversityofOxford #postdoc
Let’s celebrate women and girls in scientific research! Often underestimated, women drive research in biomedical sciences both intellectually and at the bench. Research should be a “gender-blind” endeavor, but rarely is. Stop bigotry ! Stop unconscious bias ! Go women & girls!
A brilliant, kind, funny colleague gone too soon. We will miss you Bela.
www.merton.ox.ac.uk/news/remembe...
Taking place on 17-19 September 2025, Transcription and Chromatin UK will showcase cutting-edge research and is a ‘mustattend’ for anyone within the transcription and epigenetics community🧪. Register now: www.eventsforce.net/biochemsoc/2...
Very proud to have our latest work now online in
@natsmb.nature.com. A wonderful team effort across the centromere community, across @jansenlab.bsky.social @naltemose.bsky.social @dfachinetti.bsky.social and Giunta labs. Happy reading! 1/4
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Regulation of X chromosome inactivation in mammals requires precise control of the levels of the non-coding RNA Xist. Almeida et al. describe an autoregulatory mechanism in which nascent Xist transcri...
