Heterochromatin Formation by the HUSH complex (Iva Tchasovnikarova)

About this episode

Iva Tchasovnikarova discusses her research on heterochromatin formation and the HUSH complex.

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we talked with Iva Tchasovnikarova from the Wellcome Trust Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute about her work on heterochromatin formation and epigenetic control. We begin with Dr. Tchasovnikarova's journey into the field of biology, tracing her roots back to her formative years and the pragmatic guidance of her parents. Despite initial uncertainty about her career path, it was her mother’s passion for teaching biology that ultimately inspired her to pursue a degree in the subject. As Dr. Tchasovnikarova introduces her current role as a group leader at the Gurdon Institute and an assistant professor at the University of Cambridge, she highlights her early work during her PhD which yielded a first-author publication in Science. She reflects on the serendipitous aspects of this experience, detailing a project where she utilised a novel genetic screening system to uncover a repressor complex named HUSH, a pivotal discovery that has implications for understanding transcriptional repression mechanisms in vertebrates. The conversation progresses into her postdoctoral research, where she further explored the HUSH complex's role alongside…

People in this episode

Guest: Iva Tchasovnikarova

Topics covered

• heterochromatin formation
• epigenetic control
• gene expression
• transcriptional repression
• viral infections

Keywords

• heterochromatin
• HUSH complex
• epigenetics
• gene regulation
• transcriptional repression
• viral immune response

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Wellcome Trust Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge

Products: Science

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