Unexpected new findings about the establishment of epigenetic silencing, derived from screens for novel regulators of X inactivation

Associate Professor Marnie Blewitt, Walter & Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne

An abstract will be available closer to the date.

Associate Professor Marnie Blewitt completed her PhD with Prof. Emma Whitelaw at The University of Sydney; she developed a sensitised mutagenesis screen for novel epigenetic modifiers in the mouse, for which she was awarded the Genetics Society of Australia DG Catcheside prize. Marnie took up a Peter Doherty Post-doctoral fellowship with Prof. Douglas Hilton at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. In her post-doctoral studies, she identified a critical role for the novel protein Smchd1 in X inactivation, and studied the role of polycomb group proteins in hematopoietic stem cell function. This work earned her the AAS Gani medal and the L’Oreal Australia Women in Science fellowship 2009. In 2010, Marnie established her own group at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute as an ARC QEII fellow, working on the molecular mechanisms of epigenetic control. She is now a division head and Viertel Senior Medical Research Fellow, and is the Chair of the Education Committee and Acting Centre Head of Education.