Mice that lack H2A.B.3 in their testis are highly susceptible to the testicular heat stress. Even after mild heat shock, the majority of meiotic tetraploid and post-meiotic haploid cells are lost, which clearly indicates the role of H2A.B.3 and epigenetics in the control of cellular response to stress. In order to understand the function of H2A.B3 in stress response, and more widely, how the epigenetic mechanisms control the stress response, a number of cutting edge methods will be employed to analyze the epigenetic landscape before and after the heat stress in the presence or absence of H2A.B3.  More precisely, we will employ a number of next-generation sequencing techniques (such as CUT&RUN, RNA-seq) to study genomic landscape, gene expression and splicing before and after heat application. We will also use confocal microscopy to analyse the cell states.

Thid project offers an all-rounding way to fully immerse students into scientific life, as it gives opportunity to master your experimental skills, learn some of the state-of-the-art techniques, as well as find out a lot about very exciting fields of biology, such as epigenetics spermatogenesis and how it can relate to cancer.