Factsheet
Prof. Dr. Maria Elena Torres Padilla
Positions and Career
Since 2016
Director Institute of Epigenetics & Stem Cells
Professor, Chair of Stem Cell Biology at the Faculty of Biology Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich
2008-2016
Group leader at the IGBMC, Strasbourg
Since 2012
Directeur de Recherche at INSERM
2010-2012
Co-Director of the Developmental & Stem Cell Biology Department, IGBMC
2012-2015
Coordinator of the Nuclear Dynamics & Signalling Programme, IGBMC
Education
HDR (Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches): Université Louis-Pasteur, Strasbourg
Ph. D. degree, Degree obtained with honors : Mention ‘Très honorable avec les Félicitations du Jury’. Institut Pasteur/University of Paris V.
Thesis entitled "Etude de l’expression et de l’activité transcriptionnelle des isoformes de HNF4a, récepteur nucléaire essential pour la différenciation hépatique"
Licenciatura Degree in Biology, Degree obtained with honors. Faculty of Sciences. National University of Mexico (UNAM). Mexico. Gabino Barreda Award.
Thesis entitled « Pharmacological and functional characterization of B2-Bradykinin receptor in Rat1 fibroblasts. »
Highschool
Magna Cum Laude. Instituto Miguel Angel, Mexico.
Awards
1998
Canifarma Prize. Instituto Politecnico Nacional de México
1998
Gabino Barreda Award. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México
Since 2003
Member of the Faculty of Biology, University of Cambridge
2006
Royal Society, Conference Award
2009
Prize Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (FRM) Alsace
2011
Elected RISE1 Member of EpiGeneSys Network of Excellence
2011
EMBO Young Investigator
2014
Prix de la Fondation Schlumberger pour l’Education et la Recherche
2014
Prix Fondation Université de Strasbourg-Cercle Gutenberg
2015
Elected EMBO Member
2015
Selected as Young Scientist by the World Economic Forum
2018
German Stem Cell Network Female Award
Selected Publications
Heterochromatin establishment during early mammalian development is regulated by pericentromeric RNA and characterized by non-repressive H3K9me3
Burton A, Brochard V, Galan C, Ruiz-Morales ER, Rovira Q, Rodriguez-Terrones D, Kruse K, Le Gras S, Udayakumar VS, Chin HG, Eid A, Liu X, Wang C, Gao S, Pradhan S, Vaquerizas JM, Beaujean N, Jenuwein T, Torres-Padilla ME.
Nature Cell Biology 22(7):767-778.
Genome-lamina interactions are established de novo in the early mouse embryo
Borsos M*, Perricone SM*, Schauer T, Pontabry J, de Luca KL, de Vries SS, Ruiz-Morales ER, Torres-Padilla ME§ ‡, Kind J §. Nature 569:729-733.
* equal contribution; § co-corresponding authors; ‡ lead contact
More DetailsA molecular roadmap for the emergence of early-embryonic-like cells
Rodriguez-Terrones D, Gaume X, Ishiuchi T, Weiss A, Kopp A, Kruse K, Penning A, Vaquerizas JM, Brino L, Torres-Padilla ME.
Nature Genetics 50(1): 106-119.
More DetailsLINE-1 activation after fertilization regulates global chromatin accessibility in the early mouse embryo
Jachowicz J, Bing X, Pontabry J, Boskovic A, Rando O, Torres-Padilla ME. Nature Genetics49(10):1502-1510
More DetailsEarly embryonic-like cells are induced by down-regulating replication-dependent chromatin assembly
Ishiuchi T, Enriquez-Gasca R, Mizutani E, Bošković A, Ziegler-Birling C, Rodriguez-Terrones D, Wakayama T, Vaquerizas JM, Torres-Padilla ME. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology22(9):662-71.
More DetailsHigher chromatin mobility supports totipotency and precedes pluripotency in vivo
Boskovic A, Eid A, Pontabry J, Ishiuchi T, Spiegelhalter C, Ram EVSR, Meshorer E, Torres-Padilla ME. Genes & Development28(10):1042-7.
More DetailsChromatin signatures and retrotransposon profiling in mouse embryos reveal regulation of LINE-1 by RNA
Fadloun A, Le Gras S, Jost B, Ziegler-Birling C, Takahashi H, Gorab E, Carninci P, Torres-Padilla ME. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology20(3):332-8.
More DetailsLive visualization of chromatin dynamics using fluorescent TALEs
Miyanari Y, Ziegler-Birling C, Torres-Padilla ME. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 20(11):1321-4.
More DetailsControl of ground state pluripotency through allelic regulation of Nanog
Miyanari, Y, Torres-Padilla ME. Nature483 (7390):470-3.
More DetailsHeterochromatin formation in the mouse embryo requires critical residues of the histone variant H3.3
Santenard A, Ziegler-Birling C, Koch M, Tora L, Bannister AJ, Torres-Padilla ME. Nature Cell Biology12(9):853-62.
More Details