Background:

Maria-Elena did her undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Sciences of the UNAM, Mexico and obtained her PhD at the Institut Pasteur, Paris in 2002. She was a postdoctoral fellow at The Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, UK between 2002 and 2006 and then worked as a senior scientist with Laszlo Tora. She started her own lab at the IGBMC in Strasbourg, France in December 2008. She is currently the Director of the Institute of Epigenetics and Stem Cells in Munich, where the lab moved in January 2016. Her research group is focused on studying the epigenetics and cell fate in early mammalian development. In mammals, epigenetic reprogramming, the acquisition and loss of totipotency, and the first cell fate decision all occur within a three-day window after fertilization of the oocyte. Molecularly, these processes are poorly understood, yet this knowledge is an essential prerequisite to uncover principles of stem cells, chromatin biology and thus regenerative medicine. Specifically, the Torres-Padilla Lab investigates the dynamics of de novoheterochromatin formation in mammalian embryos; the chromatin remodelling mechanisms and its impacts on cellular plasticity and establishment of totipotency.