Events

Date: 13 March 2026   Time: 12:30 - 13:30     

Location: Scape Canalside TR2, Mile End Campus.

Speaker:

Lars Jensen, Professor of Molecular Genetics, Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford

Abstract:

The centromere is a specialized chromatin domain that drives accurate chromosome segregation. Remarkably, centromere identity is maintained epigenetically and is largely independent of the underlying DNA sequence. We aim to uncover the mechanisms by which chromatin–based information is inherited, using the centromere as a model system. Using fluorescent pulse-labeling approaches, we discovered that the centromeric histone H3 variant CENP-A forms an exceptionally stable chromatin structure that is unique to this histone, consistent with its role in conferring epigenetic identity to the centromere. The replenishment of new CENP-A is tightly coupled to the cell cycle, ensuring synchrony between cell division and centromere propagation. The strong epigenetic nature of centromeres is illustrated by the existence of neocentromeres, which arise spontaneously but are inherited indefinitely. We have developed novel methods to induce neocentromere formation, enabling us to investigate how centromeres are established, how their size and copy number are controlled, and how they are inherited with remarkable fidelity.

Short Bio:

Lars Jansen is a native of the Netherlands. He received his PhD in Molecular Genetics in 2002 from Leiden University, where he studied nucleotide excision repair in budding yeast. He subsequently moved to San Diego, California, for postdoctoral training with Don Cleveland, focusing on mitosis and the discovery of epigenetic properties of human centromeres. From 2008 to 2018, he was a Principal Investigator at the Gulbenkian Institute near Lisbon, Portugal, where his work centered on the mechanisms of chromatin inheritance. Since 2018, his laboratory has been based in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford, where he is Professor of Molecular Genetics. He is also a Fellow and Tutor in Biochemistry at St Edmund Hall, Oxford.