Research Interests
I’ve always been fascinated by how RNA is a versatile and crucial player in regulating all vital functions in the cell. I began my research journey by working on polyadenylation-dependent RNA degradation as a mechanism of transcription surveillance. My curiosity of global regulation and epigenetics then brought me to study the role of histone variants in reproduction.
In the Hilgers lab, we want to decipher the mechanisms of RNA 3’UTR extension in Drosophila, a process responsible for extremely long RNA molecules in neurons. Some of them are crucial RNA regulators and we aim at understanding how this impacts neuron development and function.
I use cell sorting and genome-wide sequencing approaches, and take advantage of Drosophila genetic tools, to determine the precise outline of these extended RNAs.
Curriculum Vitae
- Postdoc in Kimberly Kline’s lab, SCLESE, Singapore (2013-2014)
- Postdoc on the role of histone variants in reproduction, Frédéric Berger’s lab, TLL, Singapore (2008-2012)
- PhD Thesis ‘RNA polyadenylation and degradation: from mitochondria to the nucleus of Arabidospis thaliana’ in Dominique Gagliardi’s lab, IBPM, Strasbourg, France. (2008)
- Undergraduate and postgraduate courses in plant biology, molecular and cellular biology, Strasbourg University, France.
Selected publications
- Holec S and Wollmann H, Alden K, Clarke N, Jacques P-E, Berger F (2012): Dynamic deposition of histone variant H3.3 accompanies developmental remodeling of the Arabidopsis transcriptome. PLoS Genetics 8 (5):e1002658. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002658
- Talbert PB, Ahmad K, Almouzni G, Ausió J, Berger F, Bhalla PL, Bonner WM, Cande WZ, Chadwick BP, Chan SW, Cross GA, Cui L, Dimitrov SI, Doenecke D, Eirin-López JM, Gorovsky MA, Hake SB, Hamkalo BA, Holec S, Jacobsen SE, Kamieniarz K, Khochbin S, Ladurner AG, Landsman D, Latham JA, Loppin B, Malik HS, Marzluff WF, Pehrson JR, Postberg J, Schneider R, Singh MB, Smith MM, Thompson E, Torres-Padilla ME, Tremethick DJ, Turner BM, Waterborg JH, Wollmann H, Yelagandula R, Zhu B, Henikoff S.(2012): A unified phylogeny-based nomenclature for histone variants. Epigenetics Chromatin 2012 Jun 21;5:7. DOI: 10.1186/1756-8935-5-7
- Holec S, Lange H, Kühn K, Alioua M, Börner T, Gagliardi D. (2006): Relaxed transcription in Arabidospis mitochondria is counterbalanced by RNA stability control mediated by polyadenylation and polynucleotide phosphorylase. Molecular and Cellular Biology 26 (7), pp. 2869 - 76. DOI:10.1128/MCB.26.7.2869-2876.2006