Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are the primary drivers of cervical cancers, and often HPV DNA gets integrated into the host genome. Although the oncogenic impact of HPV encoded genes is relatively well known, the cis-regulatory effect of integrated ...
Two fundamental properties of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are their ability to self-renew and differentiate into all somatic cell types. Maintenance of their identity faces major challenges when transitioning through mitosis, as most DNA-binding proteins a ...
Whole genome doubling (WGD) events are drivers of genetic innovation across vertebrate evolution. While generally detrimental to mammalian organisms, WGDs are crucial in the development of various plants and fungi, as well as for the terminal differentiati ...
Whole-genome doubling (WGD) is a recurrent event in human cancers and it promotes chromosomal instability and acquisition of aneuploidies(1-8). However, the three-dimensional organization of chromatin in WGD cells and its contribution to oncogenic phenotyp ...
DNA mechanics plays a crucial role in many biological processes, including nucleosome positioning and protein-DNA interactions. It is believed that nature employs epigenetic modifications in DNA to further regulate gene expression. Moreover, double-strande ...
Long-term consumption of lipid-rich foods can contribute to common metabolic diseases and systemic low-grade inflammation. However, dietary responses and the development of non-communicable diseases are shaped by genetic factors and gene-by-environment int ...
Co-expression of two or more genes at the single-cell level is usually associated with functional co-regulation. While mRNA co-expression-measured as the correlation in mRNA levels-can be influenced by both transcriptional and post-transcriptional events, ...
DNA-binding proteins physically interact with the DNA and directly affect genomic functions. The eukaryotic genome is compacted into chromatin, limiting the DNA access to nuclear factors. In this Ph.D. thesis, I explored the dynamic mechanisms, that allow ...
Mutations to gene regulatory networks can be maladaptive or a source of evolutionary novelty. Epistasis con-founds our understanding of how mutations affect the expression patterns of gene regulatory networks, a chal-lenge exacerbated by the dependence of ...
Telomeres are the nucleoprotein structures at the ends of linear chromosomes. Telomeres are transcribed into long non-coding Telomeric Repeat-Containing RNA (TERRA), whose functions rely on its ability to associate with telomeric chromatin. The conserved T ...
