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Elena
Torlai Triglia

Lecturer

Research Interests

  • Cancer
  • Gene Regulation
  • Systems Biology
  • Epigenetics
  • Stem Cells
  • Neurons

Languages

  • English (Professional)
  • Italian (Native)
  • German (Basic)
  • French (Basic)
  • Spanish (Basic)

Associations

Other

  • Travelling
  • Sailing
  • Baking

About

Computational and molecular biologist. Currently a Lecturer/ Group Leader at Queen Mary University of London. Previously: postdoc in the lab of Prof. Aviv Regev at the Broad Institute / KCO and Prof. Brad Bernstein at Broad Institute/ DFCI (Boston, MA)/ PhD student in the Humboldt university of Berlin, working with Prof. Ana Pombo at the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology (@ Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine). Captivated by multidisciplinary, open research. Interested in gene regulation, epigenetics, single-cell and systems biology. Aiming to improve our understanding of cell states.

Professional Experience

Lecturer / Group Leader

Feb 2024 - present
Queen Mary University of London (London, UK)

Lecturer (T&R) in Genetics, Genomics, Fundamental Cell Biology, based in the Blizard Insitute

Postdoc

Aug 2020 - Jan 2024
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard / Dana Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, MA, USA)

Advisor: Prof. Brad Bernstein

Postdoc

Aug 2018 - Jan 2024
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard / Klarman Cell Observatory (Boston, MA, USA)

Advisor: Prof. Aviv Regev

Postdoc

Dec 2017 - Aug 2018
Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology - MDC (Berlin, DE)

Advisor: Prof. Ana Pombo
Project: Regulation of transcribed genes through Polycomb Repressive Complexes

EMBO Short-Term Fellow

Jul - Aug 2013, May & Sep 2016
EMBL-EBI / Sanger Institute (Cambridge, UK)

Advisor: Prof. Sarah Teichmann
Project: Regulation of single-cell expression via Polycomb during neuronal differentiation

PhD student

Nov 2012 - Dec 2017
Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology - MDC (Berlin, DE)

Advisor: Prof. Ana Pombo
Project: Interplay between RNAPII and Polycomb during neuronal differentiation

Master Student

Sep 2011 - Sep 2012
San Raffaele Scientific Institute (Milan, IT)

Advisor: Prof. Giovanni Tonon
Project: Investigation of the oncogenic mechanism of an histone methyltransferase amplified and overexpressed in different types of cancer

Summer Student

Jul - Aug 2011
MRC - Clinical Sciences Centre (London, UK)

Advisor: Prof. Enrico Petretto
Project: Comparative analyis of gene expression in a rat model of hypertension

Summer Student

Sep 2009
San Raffaele Scientific Institute (Milan, IT)

Advisor: Prof. Giorgio Casari
Project: Study of mutations of mitochondrial protease m-AAA in Spino-Cerebellar Ataxia 28

Education

PhD in Molecular Biology

Nov 2012 - Dec 2017
Humboldt University (Berlin, DE)

Dissertation title: Beyond pluripotency: interplay between RNA Polymerase II and Polycomb Repressive Complexes throughout neuronal differentiation
Advisor: Prof. Ana Pombo
Thesis committee members: Prof. Uwe Ohler (chair), Prof. Sarah Teichmann (reviewer), Prof. Leonie Ringrose (reviewer), Prof. Norber Hubner (additional member).

MSc in Molecular and Cellular Medical Biotechnology

Oct 2010 - Sep 2012
San Raffaele University (Milan, IT)

Thesis title: WHSC1L1: An epigenetic player in the oncogenesis of Non-small cell lung cancer
Advisor: Prof. Giovanni Tonon

BSc in Medical and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology

Sep 2007 - Sep 2010
San Raffaele University (Milan, IT)

Thesis title: Genomic Imprinting: when the parent of origin decides gene expression
Advisor: Prof. Giorgio Casari

Peer-reviewed Publications

B-cell-specific checkpoint molecules that regulate anti-tumour immunity - Bod L, Kye YC, Shi J, TORLAI TRIGLIA E*, Schnell A, Fessler J, Ostrowski SM, Von-Franque MY, Kuchroo JR, Barilla RM, Zaghouani S, Christian E, Delorey TM, Mohib K, Xiao S, Slingerland N, Giuliano CJ, Ashenberg O, Li Z, Rothstein DM, Fisher DE, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Sharpe AH, Quintana FJ, Apetoh L, Regev A, Kuchroo VK

Nature 619, 348–356 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06231-0

Stepwise-edited, human melanoma models reveal mutations’ effect on tumor and microenvironment - Hodis E*, TORLAI TRIGLIA E*, Kwon JYH, Biancalani T, Zakka LR, Parkar S, Hütter JC, Buffoni L, Delorey TM, Phillips D, Dionne D, Nguyen LT, Schapiro D, Maliga Z, Jacobson CA, Hendel A, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Mihm MC, Garraway LA, Regev A

Science 376, 474 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi8175

*Shared first authorship.

Cell-type specialization is encoded by specific chromatin topologies - Winick-Ng W, Kukalev A, Harabulā I, Redondo LZ, Szabo D, Meijer M, Serebreni L, Zhang Y, Bianco S, Chiariello AM, Irastorza-Azcarate I, Thieme C, Sparks T, Carvalho S, Fiorillo L, Musella F, Irani E, TORLAI TRIGLIA E, Kolodziejczyk AA, Abentung A, Apostolova G, Paul EJ, Franke V, Kempfer R, Akalin A, Teichmann SA, Dechant G, Ungless MA, Nicodemi M, Castelo-Branco G, Pombo A

Nature 599(7886):684-691 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04081-2

Single-cell meta-analysis of SARS-CoV-2 entry genes across tissues and demographics - Muus C*, Luecken MD*, Eraslan G*, Sikkema L*, Waghray A*, Heimberg G*, Kobayashi Y*, Vaishnav ED*, Subramanian A*, Smillie C*, Jagadeesh KA*, Duong ET*, Fiskin E*, TORLAI TRIGLIA E*, Ansari M*, Cai P*, Lin B*, Buchanan J*, Chen S*, Shu J*, Haber AL*, Chung H*, Montoro DT*, Adams T, Aliee H, Allon SJ, Andrusivova Z, Angelidis I, Ashenberg O, Bassler K, Bécavin C, Benhar I, Bergenstråhle J, Bergenstråhle L, Bolt L, Braun E, Bui LT, Callori S, Chaffin M, Chichelnitskiy E, Chiou J, Conlon TM, Cuoco MS, Cuomo ASE, Deprez M, Duclos G, Fine D, Fischer DS, Ghazanfar S, Gillich A, Giotti B, Gould J, Guo M, Gutierrez AJ, Habermann AC, Harvey T, He P, Hou X, Hu L, Hu Y, Jaiswal A, Ji L, Jiang P, Kapellos TS, Kuo CS, Larsson L, Leney-Greene MA, Lim M, Litviňuková M, Ludwig LS, Lukassen S, Luo W, Maatz H, Madissoon E, Mamanova L, Manakongtreecheep K, Leroy S, Mayr CH, Mbano IM, McAdams AM, Nabhan AN, Nyquist SK, Penland L, Poirion OB, Poli S, Qi C, Queen R, Reichart D, Rosas I, Schupp JC, Shea CV, Shi X, Sinha R, Sit RV, Slowikowski K, Slyper M, Smith NP, Sountoulidis A, Strunz M, Sullivan TB, Sun D, Talavera-López C, Tan P, Tantivit J, Travaglini KJ, Tucker NR, Vernon KA, Wadsworth MH, Waldman J, Wang X, Xu K, Yan W, Zhao W, Ziegler CGK, The NHLBI LungMap Consortium & The Human Cell Atlas Lung Biological Network

*Shared first authorship.
Nat Med 27, 546–559 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-01227-z

Skin-resident innate lymphoid cells converge on a pathogenic effector state - Bielecki P*, Riesenfeld SJ*, Huetter JC*, TORLAI TRIGLIA E*, Kowalczyk MS, Ricardo-Gonzalez RR, Lian M, Amezcua Vesely MC, Kroehling L, Xu H, Slyper M, Muus C, Ludwig LS, Christian E, Tao L, Kedaigle AJ, Steach HR, York AG, Skadow MH, Yaghoubi P, Dionne D, Jarret A, McGee HM, Porter CBM, Licona-Limón P, Bailis W, Jackson R, Gagliani N, Gasteiger G, Locksley RM, Regev A, Flavell RA

*Shared first authorship.
Nature. 592, 128–132 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03188-w

R-Loops Enhance Polycomb Repression at a Subset of Developmental Regulator Genes - Skourti-Stathaki K, TORLAI TRIGLIA E, Warburton M, Voigt P, Bird A, Pombo A

Mol Cell. 2019 Mar 7;73(5):930-945.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2018.12.016

RNA polymerase II primes Polycomb‐repressed developmental genes throughout terminal neuronal differentiation - Ferrai C*, TORLAI TRIGLIA E*, Risner-Janiczek JR, Rito T, Rackham OJL, de Santiago I, Kukalev A, Nicodemi M, Akalin A, Li M, Ungless MA, Pombo A.

Molecular Systems Biology. 2017. 13:946. - doi: 10.15252/msb.20177754

*Shared first authorship.
Selected for Journal Cover and featured in a News and Views article by Rada-Iglesias (MSB, DOI: 10.15252/msb.20177968)


Flipping between Polycomb repressed and active transcriptional states introduces noise in gene expression - Kar G, Kim JK, Kolodziejczyk AA, Natarajan KN, TORLAI TRIGLIA E, Mifsud B, Elderkin S, Marioni JC, Pombo A, Teichmann SA.

Nature Communications. 2017. 8:36. - doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00052-2


Active and poised promoter states drive folding of the extended HoxB locus in mouse embryonic stem cells - Barbieri M, Xie SQ, TORLAI TRIGLIA E, Chiariello AM, Bianco S, de Santiago I, Branco MR, Rueda D, Nicodemi M, Pombo A.

Nature Structural and Molecular Biology. 2017. 24:515-524. - doi: 10.1038/nsmb.3402


Methylation of RNA Polymerase II non-consensus lysine residues marks early transcription in mammalian cells - Dias JD, Rito T*, TORLAI TRIGLIA E*, Kukalev A, Ferrai C, Chotalia M, Brookes E, Kimura H, Pombo A.

eLife. 2015. 4:e11215. - doi: 10.7554/eLife.11215.001

*Shared co-authorship.

Additional Publications

Keep them close: PRC2 poises enhancer promoter interactions at anterior neuronal genes. - Caglio G, TORLAI TRIGLIA E, Pombo A.


Cell Stem Cell. 2017. 20:573-575. - doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2017.04.006 - Preview


A finer print than TADs: PRC1-mediated domains. - TORLAI TRIGLIA E, Rito T, Pombo A.


Molecular Cell. 2017. 65:373-375. - doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2017.01.028 - Preview


Tailoring our CAPES for a successful career in science. - Valeriani D, TORLAI TRIGLIA E, Adami E.


Nature Behavioural and Social Sciences. 2019. - Contribution

Skills and Techniques

Computational - Genome-wide data processing (mapping and quality assessment), ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, ATAC-seq (bulk population and single-cell) data analysis. Programming in Python, R, Shell. Working on Unix-based operating systems, cluster and cloud-based environments.

Experimental - Cell culture (mouse embryonic stem cells, human cell lines), western blot, ChIP, PCR, differentiation towards neural precursor cells, single-cell dataset production (Fluidigm).

Honours and Awards

DMM Travel Grant to attend Single-Cell Genomics 2022

2022

Selected speaker at "Broad Retreat 2019", Boston, MA

2019

Poster prize winner "Broad - ISF Symposium 2019", Jerusalem, IL

2019

Selected talk at IRI Symposium "From Cells to Process - Advances and Challenges in Single Cell Biology", Berlin, DE

2018

Max Delbrueck Center nominee for Marthe Vogt Award for young female scientists (Forschungsverbund Berlin)

2018

BIH QUEST Open Data Award to Ferrai, Torlai Triglia et al., 2017, Mol Syst Biol

2018

Selected talk at ABCD (Italian Association of Cell Biology and Differentiation) pre-meeting, Bologna, IT

2017

Travel Fellowship to attend ABCD pre-meeting and meeting, Bologna, IT

2017

Selected Short-Talk EMBO | FEBS Course "Chromatin and the environment", Spetses, GR

2016

EMBO Short Term Fellowship (ASTF 336-2015) to visit Teichmann’s lab, Cambridge, UK

2015

Selected talk at FEBS (Federation of European Biochemical Societies) Young Scientist Forum, Berlin, DE

2015

FEBS YSF Fellowship to attend FEBS, Berlin, DE

2015

Merit Award for High School graduates

2007

Outreach and Organisation

Co-chair of Nextgen Association for Postdocs and Grad students - Broad Institute (2020-)
Vice-chair of Nextgen Association for Postdocs and Grad students - Broad Institute (2019-2020)
Research Abstract Reviewer - SACNAS The National Diversity in STEM Conference (2020)
Pen pal for Penne Amiche della Scienza (2020-)
Pen pal for Letters to a Pre-Scientist (2016, 2019)
Interviewed for The Scientist 'As Bees Specialize, So Does Their DNA Packaging' (Sep 2018)
Speaker at the Italian Embassy Event Italian researchers in Germany (2017)
Organiser of BIMSB Student Symposium (2016), MDC Graduation Ceremony (2015), BIMSB Retreat (2013)