Research
My research is focused on understanding epigenetic mechanisms regulating human embryo implantation using model human endometrial 3D culture systems. I have a long-standing interest in gene interaction networks in embryonic stem cells. My research identified a strong 3D network of developmental genes that are physically clustered and silenced to prevent inappropriate expression during early development. This work highlighted the importance of gene regulation in embryonic development and the role of the Polycomb Repressive Complex (PRC1) in maintaining this silenced state. We are now exploring these mechanisms during human embryo implantation. I am the Person Responsible for Peter Rugg-Gunn's Human embryo licence and Head of Human Research at the Babraham Institute.
Publications
Mole¨ MA#, Elderkin S#, Zorzan I#, Penfold C #, Horsley N#, Pokhilko A, Polanek M, Palomar A, Sinha M, Wang Y, Quiñonero A, Androulidakis C, Acton R, Balmanno K, Jarman A Srinivasan J, Bendall A, Morales S, Ãlvarez, Yagüe-Serrano R, Heywood K, Harbottle S, Vasilic M, Cawood S, Seshadri S, Serhal P, Weavers L, Sarris I, Mania A, Gibbons R Lucy Laurier L, Sánchez-Ribas I, Mercader A, Alamá P, Hoa Bui A, Burton GJ, Cindrova T, Davies TC, Fernando RC, McCarthy A, Aghajanova L, Themaat LN, Lathi RB, Cook SJ, Niakan KK, Dunn AR, DomÃnguez F, Rugg-Gunn PJ. et al., (2026) Modelling human
embryo implantation in vitro: Cell 189(1):87-105.e28. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.10.027. Nocente MC#, Della Rosa M#, Malcom AA, Lister G, Savin I, Ray-Jones H, Elderkin S, Tian R, Andrews S, Bendall B, Semprich CI, Kampmann M, Malysheva V, Maria Rostovskaya M, Rugg-Gunn P and Spivakov M Poising and connectivity of emergent human developmental enhancers in the transition from naive to primed pluripotency bioRxiv preprint DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.02.679816
Bruno L, Ramlall V, Studer R, Bradley D, Dharmalingam G, Carroll T, Chopin M, Nutt S, Elderkin S, Fisher A, Siggers TW, Beltrao P, Sauer P, Ghoneim M, Rueda D, Merkenschlager M. Selective deployment of transcription factor paralogs with submaximal strength facilitates gene regulation in the immune system: Nature Immunology 20(10) 1372–1380 (2019) DOI: 10.1038/s41590-019-0471-5
Koohy H, Bolland DJ, Matheson LS, Schoenfelder S, Stellato C, Dimond A, Várnai C, Chovanec P, Chessa T, Denizot J, Manzano Garcia R, Wingett SW, Freire-Pritchett P, Nagano T, Hawkins P, Stephens L, Elderkin S, Spivakov M, Fraser P, Corcoran AE, Varga-Weisz PD. Genome organization and chromatin analysis identify transcriptional downregulation of insulin-like growth factor signaling as a hallmark of aging in developing B cells. Genome Biology 19:126 (2018) DOI: 10.1186/s13059-018-1489-y
Matheson L and Elderkin S. Polycomb Bodies. Nuclear Architecture and Dynamics. Translational Epigenetics series 297-320 (2017) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-803480-4.00013-2
Kar G, Jong Kyoung Kim JK, Kolodziejczyk AA, Natarajan KN, Torlai Triglia E, Mifsud B, Elderkin S, Marioni JC, Pombo A, Teichmann SA. Flipping between Polycomb repressed and active transcriptional states introduces noise in gene expression. Nature Communications 8 (1) 36 (2017) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00052-2
Novo CL, Tang C, Ahmed K, Djuric U, Fussner E, Mullin NP, Morgan NP, Hayre J, Sienerth AR, Elderkin S, Nishinakamura R, Chambers I, Ellis J, Bazett-Jones DP, Rugg-Gunn PJ. The pluripotency factor Nanog regulates pericentromeric heterochromatin organization in mouse embryonic stem cells. Genes Dev. 30:1101-15 (2016) DOI: 10.1101/gad.275685.115
Schoenfelder S, Sugar R, Dimond A, Javierre BM, Armstrong H, Mifsud B, Dimitrova E, Matheson L, Tavares-Cadete F, Furlan-Magaril M, Segonds-Pichon A, Jurkowski W, Wingett SW, Tabbada K, Andrews S, Herman B, LeProust E, Osborne CS, Koseki H, Fraser P, Luscombe NM, Elderkin S*. Polycomb repressive complex PRC1 spatially constrains the mouse embryonic stem cell genome. Nat Genet. 47:1179-1186. (2015) DOI: 10.1038/ng.3393
Schoenfelder S, Furlan-Magaril M, Mifsud B, Tavares-Cadete F, Sugar R, Javierre BM, Nagano T, Katsman Y, Sakthidevi M, Wingett SW, Dimitrova E, Dimond A, Edelman LB, Elderkin S, Tabbada K, Darbo E, Andrews S, Herman B, Higgs A, LeProust E, Osborne CS, Mitchell JA, Luscombe NM, Fraser P. The pluripotent regulatory circuitry connecting promoters to their long-range interacting elements. Genome Res. 25:582-597 (2015) DOI: 10.1101/gr.185272.114
Cooper S, Dienstbier M, Hassan R, Schermelleh L, Sharif J, Blackledge NP, De Marco V, Elderkin S, Koseki H, Klose R, Heger A, Brockdorff N. Targeting polycomb to pericentric heterochromatin in embryonic stem cells reveals a role for H2AK119u1 in PRC2 recruitment. Cell Rep. 7:1456-1470 (2014) DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2014.04.012
Tavares L, Dimitrova E, Oxley D, Webster J, Poot R, Demmers J, Bezstarosti K, Taylor S, Ura H, Koide H, Wutz A, Vidal M, Elderkin S*, Brockdorff N*. RYBP-PRC1 complexes mediate H2A ubiquitylation at polycomb target sites independently of PRC2 and H3K27me3. Cell. 148:664-78 (2012) DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2011.12.029
