Kikuë Tachibana, Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA), Vienna, Austria ; Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB), Munich, Germany

Biography: Kikuë Tachibana was educated in Austria, Japan and the UK. She studied Natural Sciences as an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge, where she stayed on for her PhD work on DNA replication with Ron Laskey. For her postdoctoral research, Kikue worked with Kim Nasmyth at the University of Oxford to investigate cohesin in mouse oocytes. Kikue started her research group in 2011 at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, Vienna, Austria. She has taken up a director position at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Munich, Germany, where she is building up a new department of Totipotency. Kikue is the recipient of the Walther Flemming Award, a member of the young Austrian Academy of Sciences, she was an EMBO Young Investigator and is an EMBO member.

Abstract: How chromatin is reorganized and reprogrammed after fertilization remain crucial questions in biology. The single-cell embryo or zygotes harbors a maternal genome inherited from the oocyte and a paternal genome provided by sperm. Epigenetic reprogramming of the paternal genome occurs by a mechanism that involves the generation and repair of DNA breaks. To study 3D chromatin reorganization during zygotic reprogramming, we developed a single-nucleus Hi-C protocol applicable to rare cell types. We discovered that chromatin architecture is uniquely reorganized during the oocyte-to-zygote transition. To fully understand zygote biology, it is also important to understand its precursor cells. We will present unpublished work on how a single approach can reduce chromosome missegregation and egg aneuploidy at advanced maternal age in mice.

Location: Amphi Charpak, Ground Floor Tower 22

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IBPS Seminar - Invited Speaker