Dr Giorgia Battistoni

Gene regulation is a multi-layered network through which cells finely tune the functional output of each gene, directing cell identity and function. How these regulatory programmes are modulated by environmental cues — and whether such adaptations are transmitted across generations — remains largely unanswered. My work approaches this question from two complementary directions: deciphering the epigenetic control of cell fate in the mammalian embryo, and building the tools necessary to study it with the resolution and scale the question demands. In my postdoc, I am developing a new platform for rapid in vitro discovery of camelid nanobodies and to generate high affinity reagents for RNA modifications. Additionally, I developed and benchmarked BALI, a method for tuneable and histology aware spatial sequencing. BALI leverages light activation to encode combinatorial barcodes on biomolecules for unbiased RNA and chromatin profiling. As I move towards independence, I am interested in addressing the role of the placenta in mediating and modulating cell fate decision in the embryo, by leveraging on my spatial biology and functional genomics toolkit.