ABSTRACT

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) possess a highly open and plastic chromatin that supports pluripotency and undergoes progressive compaction and compartmentalization during cell fate commitment. The Meshorer lab studies the consequences and mechanisms of this chromatin plasticity in ESCs and has identi«ed key factors that maintain pluripotency. The lab also uses computational approaches to reconstruct genome-wide DNA methylation maps of ancient genomes, revealing gene regulatory differences between archaic and modern humans, including genes linked to vocal and facial anatomy. In his seminar, Eran Meshorer will present work from these research lines.

BIOSKETCH

Prof. Dr. Eran Meshorer holds the Arthur Gutterman Family Chair for Stem Cell Research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he has been Full Professor since 2016. He received his PhD in molecular neuroscience from the Hebrew University and was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute, NIH, where he found that ESCs possess a more plastic chromatin (Developmental Cell 2006). Since establishing his lab in 2007, he has pioneered paleo-epigenetics (Science 2014). He is President of the Israel Stem Cell Society, received the ISSCR Public Service Award in 2025, and was elected EMBO Member in 2025.