IGBMC : Institut de la Génétique et de la Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire

• Researchers

  Maria Elena TORRES PADILLA

• Post-Doctoral Fellowships

  Jonathan Adam BURTON

  Anas FADLOUN

  Takashi ISHIUCHI

  Yusuke MIYANARI

• Phd Students

  Ana BOSKOVIC

• Engineers & Technicians

  Céline ZIEGLER-BIRLING

• Master Students

  André EID

Development & stems cells

Epigenetics and cell fate in early mammalian development

Research in our group focuses on understanding how early mouse development is regulated by chromatin-mediated changes in gene regulation, that is, by epigenetic information. In particular, we are interested in understanding how the transitions in cell potency and cell fate are regulated by chromatin-mediated processes. We use the mouse embryo as a model because this is one of the few systems where it is possible to explore the foundations of totipotency and differentiation. Indeed, the zygote, which is the product of fertilization of an oocyte by sperm, has an inherent capacity to form all cell types in an organism. Chromatin-mediated changes in gene regulation have to ensure the plasticity required for undertaking such an essential task during development.Our projects will help us to understand how chromatin structure is progressively modified to restrict cell fate determination with the consequent loss of totipotency. Our work will also allow new insights in understanding the biology of the pluripotent stem cells, in particular on their origin and development. From a broader perspective, deciphering the basic mechanisms underlying the earliest steps of mammalian development is essential to understand early aspects of embryonic development, human reproduction and stem cell biology.
Our lab is member of the FP7
Network Nucleosome4D (http://www.nucleosome4d.net/) and
EpiGeneSys NoE (http://www.epigenesys.org/)
If you are interested in joining the lab, please email directly to Maria-Elena Torres-Padilla metp@igbmc.fr

Team website

• Current projects

• Collaborations

• Prizes/Awards

  • Maria Elena TORRES PADILLA - EMBO Young Investigator Award - European Molecular Biology Organization Young Investigator Programme (EMBO YIP) - 2011
  • Maria-Elena TORRES PADILLA - ERC Starting grant - European Research Council (ERC) - 2011
  • Maria-Elena TORRES-PADILLA - Scientific Prize - Comité Alsace de la Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (FRM) - 2009
  • Maria-Elena TORRES PADILLA - ATIP - AVENIR starting grant - Inserm / CNRS - 2009
  • Maria-Elena TORRES PADILLA - Long-term fellowship - European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) - 2003

• News

  • Feb. 12, 2012 - Nanog : a dosage effect to regulate cell pluripotency
  • Nov. 10, 2011 - Two junior researchers awarded by the prestigious european EMBO programme
  • Aug. 1, 2010 - H3.3, a histone at the origin of development

• Publications

  • Control of ground-state pluripotency by allelic regulation of Nanog.

    Miyanari Y, Torres-Padilla ME.

    Nature Feb. 12, 2012 .

  • Epigenetic regulation of reprogramming factors towards pluripotency in mouse preimplantation development

    Miyanari Y., Torres-Padilla M.E.

    Curr Opin Endocrinol Diabetes Obes Dec 2010 ; 17:500-6 .

  • Heterochromatin formation in the mouse embryo requires critical residues of the histone variant H3.3

    Santenard A., Ziegler-Birling C., Koch M., Tora L., Bannister A.J., Torres-Padilla M.E.

    Nat Cell Biol Sep 2010 ; 12:853-62 .

  • Epigenetic reprogramming and development: a unique heterochromatin organization in the preimplantation mouse embryo

    Burton A., Torres-Padilla M.E.

    Brief Funct Genomics Dec 2010 ; 9:444-54 .

  • TBP2 is essential for germ cell development by regulating transcription and chromatin condensation in the oocyte

    Gazdag E., Santenard A., Ziegler-Birling C., Altobelli G., Poch O., Tora L., Torres-Padilla M.E.

    Genes Dev Sept. 15, 2009 ; 23:2210-23 .

  • Monomethylation of histone H4-lysine 20 is involved in chromosome structure and stability and is essential for mouse development

    Oda H., Okamoto I., Murphy N., Chu J., Price S.M., Shen M.M., Torres-Padilla M.E., Heard E., Reinberg D.

    Mol Cell Biol Apr 2009 ; 29:2278-95 .

  • H3K64 trimethylation marks heterochromatin and is dynamically remodeled during developmental reprogramming

    Daujat S., Weiss T., Mohn F., Lange U.C., Ziegler-Birling C., Zeissler U., Lappe M., Schubeler D., Torres-Padilla M.E., Schneider R.

    Nat Struct Mol Biol Jul 2009 ; 16:777-81 .

  • Epigenetic reprogramming in mammalian reproduction: contribution from histone variants

    Santenard A., Torres-Padilla M.E.

    Epigenetics Feb 2009 ; 4:80-4 .

  • Distribution of p53 binding protein 1 (53BP1) and phosphorylated H2A.X during mouse preimplantation development in the absence of DNA damage

    Ziegler-Birling C., Helmrich A., Tora L., Torres-Padilla M.E.

    Int J Dev Biol 2009 ; 53:1003-11 .

  • Bone morphogenetic protein 4 signaling regulates development of the anterior visceral endoderm in the mouse embryo.

    Soares ML, Torres-Padilla ME, Zernicka-Goetz M.

    Dev Growth Differ Sep 2008 ; 50:615-21 .

  See all publications=>

• Job opportunities