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Reposted by Elena Torlai Triglia

lizgaskell.bsky.social @lizgaskell.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Have you ever wished you were measuring p16 and p14 instead of CDKN2A in single cell data? Now you can - and you should! This was a super fun project with @elett.bsky.social and many others. We would love to know what you think!

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Elena Torlai Triglia @elett.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

9/ Our methods for telling p16 and p14 apart are simple and can be applied to existing scRNA-seq data or libraries: we hope you'll use them! This was a huge team effort, led by Brad Bernstein and @lizgaskell.bsky.social: thank you to all authors and labs involved. Would love to hear what you think.

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Elena Torlai Triglia @elett.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

8/ Couldn't have done this without standing on great prior work, especially from David Hendrickson's lab and @dimplenotani.bsky.social's lab. Methods like SCEPTRE (Eugene Katsevich), RCMC (@andersshansen.bsky.social), ChromBPNet (@anshulkundaje.bsky.social) also really helped propel this project.

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Elena Torlai Triglia @elett.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

7/ The locus around CDKN2A/CDKN2B decompacts at senescence, while the surrounding genomic sequence compacts. Possibly 9p21 integrates signals over cell divisions and aging, eventually decompacts, and opens up access to the distal elements acting on these genes.

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Elena Torlai Triglia @elett.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

6/ We next mapped 3D loops and ran CRISPRa perturb-seq to map gene-specific promoters & distal regulatory elements in a fibroblast senescence model: p15INK4B has many elements, p16 & p14ARF fewer — but distinct promoters AND distal elements, despite shared coding sequence.

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Elena Torlai Triglia @elett.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

5/ That's the problem we went after. We parsed p16INK4A and p14ARF in single-cell transcriptomes by targeting reads unique to each transcript, and/or specifically amplifying each: p14ARF is predominant in immune cells, p16INK4A in fibroblasts, p15INK4B pretty much everywhere.

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Elena Torlai Triglia @elett.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

4/ p16INK4A acts through Rb; p14ARF acts via MDM2. Totally different tumor-suppressor pathways, same stretch of DNA — plus CDKN2B/p15INK4B next door, also acting through Rb. p16 & p14ARF diverge in bulk data, yet are still often conflated as "CDKN2A."

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Elena Torlai Triglia @elett.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

3/ A challenge studying this locus: CDKN2A doesn't encode one gene, it encodes two completely different proteins — p16INK4A & p14ARF — with overlapping coding sequences that are mostly indistinguishable in 3' biased single-cell transcriptomics.

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Elena Torlai Triglia @elett.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

2/ 9p21 is the strongest common-variant risk locus for coronary artery disease and aging. It also houses CDKN2A/CDKN2B, cell-cycle genes inactivated in a huge fraction of cancers. Same neighborhood, two different disease stories.

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Elena Torlai Triglia @elett.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

1/ New paper alert! 🎉🧬 Our study on #9p21 gene regulation is out in #CellGenomics: "Chromatin topology and distal elements underlie divergent cell-type-specific regulation of 9p21 locus cell cycle genes" (Torlai Triglia, Miller, et al. www.cell.com/cell-genomic... 🧵

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Reposted by Elena Torlai Triglia

QMUL Centre for Epigenetics @qmulepigenetics.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Our next guest seminar is happening on Friday, October 10th at 3.30pm GMT in the QM Innovation Centre, Clark-Kennedy LT. This will be a joint seminar with Oxford Nanopore @nanoporetech.com and QMUL. Please book your place here: nanoporetech.swoogo.com/QMUL_Epigene... or scan the QR code below.

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Reposted by Elena Torlai Triglia

QMUL Centre for Epigenetics @qmulepigenetics.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Our next guest speaker Prof Adele Murrell webinar is happening on Friday, October 24th at 15:30 GMT. To join and find out more, please follow this link: qmul.ac.uk/epigenetics/...

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Elena Torlai Triglia @elett.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Very exciting initiative from @royalsociety.org - join us in the UK! 🇬🇧🧑‍🔬 👀

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Elena Torlai Triglia @elett.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Still in awe from the opportunity to participate (and share our work!) at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Science Cluster Conference: Genomics Mechanisms of Disease 🧬🧑‍🔬 - lots of excellent scientific interactions with old&new friends, in the beautiful Favrholm #GenomicMechanisms25 (pics: Christian Als)

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Reposted by Elena Torlai Triglia

Academy of Medical Sciences @acmedsci.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Can we outsmart the deadliest form of skin cancer? 🧬 #Springboard25 awardee Dr @elett.bsky.social is decoding the DNA mutations behind melanoma to help develop better therapies. 👉 bit.ly/44irB7l @wellcometrust.bsky.social @thebhf.bsky.social @qmulsbbs.bsky.social @qmulse.bsky.social @qmul.ac.uk

Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard awardee Dr Elena Torlai Triglia next to a quote that reads: "This Award provides me with invaluable support for establishing my independent research group, including access to tailored career development opportunities and a renowned mentoring programme."

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Reposted by Elena Torlai Triglia

Hattie Chung @hattaca.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

🚨 Job alert! 🚨 The Chung Lab @ Yale seeks a motivated, creative postdoc to examine tissue remodeling in health and disease. We study ovarian aging and cardiovascular disease in human samples and animal models. Passionate about single-cell, spatial genomics, machine learning & therapeutics? Join us!

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Reposted by Elena Torlai Triglia

Penne Amiche della Scienza @penneamiche.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

💡 Oggi è la Giornata Internazionale delle Donne e delle Ragazze nella Scienza. 👩‍🔬Solo il 33% dei laureati STEM nel mondo è donna e il divario cresce lungo la carriera. 🌏Il 72% delle partecipanti al nostro progetto sono donne, mostrando alle classi un mondo in cui le scienziate sono protagoniste

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Reposted by Elena Torlai Triglia

QMUL Centre for Epigenetics @qmulepigenetics.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

Hello, Sky people; we are the QMUL Epigenetics Centre. Please follow this handle for the announcements of exciting epigenetics/chromatin seminars we organise, and we share other exciting announcements and opportunities.

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Elena Torlai Triglia @elett.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Great list, thanks!! Could you please add me?

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