Valerie Tornini, PhD

Dr. Tornini's research team research investigates the genetic, molecular, cellular, and evolutionary mechanisms that direct the identity of diverse cells. They focus on epigenetic, RNA, and gene regulation of neurodevelopment, and how these may be altered in early development and in neurodevelopmental disorders or diseases. Our lab uses genome engineering, single-cell technologies, behavioral analyses, confocal imaging, and genomics using the vertebrate zebrafish (Danio rerio) system and other models for evolutionary studies. They aim to understand cell type-specific gene regulatory logic, and to uncover novel molecular players that have evolved to regulate vertebrate cell specification and specialization. Their recent work investigates the very first reprogramming steps of embryonic development – zygotic genome activation – and how novel vertebrate cell states, including those resembling specific neural identities, emerge in vivo when the first Nanog/Oct4/Sox2-dependent developmental reprogramming step after fertilization fails. This work can help them better understand basic principles of gene regulation that correctly establish cell states, yielding fundamental understanding of processes dysregulated and targetable in altered cellular states such as cancer.

Youlten SE, Miao L, Hoppe C, Boswell CW, Musaev D, Abdelmessih M, Krishnaswamy S, Tornini VA#, Giraldez AJ#. Novel cell states arise in embryonic cells devoid of key repr gramming factors. bioRxiv. 2024 May 15:2024.05.13.593729. doi: 10.1101/2024.05.13.593729.

Tornini VA*#, Miao L, Lee HJ, Gerson T, Dube SE, Schmidt V, Kroll F, Tang Y, Du K, Kuchroo M, Vejnar CE, Bazzini AA, Krishnaswamy S, Rihel J#, Giraldez AJ#. linc-mipep and linc-wrb encode micropeptides that regulate chromatin accessibility in vertebrate-specific neural cells. Elife. 2023 May 16;12:e82249. doi: 10.7554/eLife.82249.

Tornini VA#. Grand roles for microproteins. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2024 Nov 14. doi: 10.1038/s41580-024-00806-z.

Tornini VA#. Small protein plays with big networks. Trends Genet. 2024 Jan;40(1):17-19. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2023.10.008.

Strayer EC*, Tornini VA*, Giraldez AJ. Giving translation a hand. Dev Cell. 2021 Nov 8;56(21):2921-2923. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2021.10.016. PMID: 34752744; PMCID: PMC10519192.