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Iva Zovkic

@ivazovkic.bsky.social

240 followers 270 following 35 posts

Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair at University of Toronto Mississauga. Neuroepigenetics, Alzheimer's disease, memory

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Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Jun 2

New preprint! In 2014, we showed that histone variants are new regulators of memory and ever since, we wondered if histone H2A.Z contributes to Alzheimer's. Using human brains and 5xFAD mice, we found that it depends on if you're male or female. Summary below. www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Opposing effects of H2A.Z on memory, transcription and pathology in male and female Alzheimer's disease mice and patients

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease that disproportionately impacts women, but underlying mechanisms for sex-divergent outcomes are unknown. Here, we show that the hist...

www.biorxiv.org

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Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Jun 27

Ha, I do that as a warm-up! Jk, very impressive

Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Jun 24

Ah, so you use it to get enough info to decide if you are the right person to review it? And I agree, it is awesome just knowing it's out there and that people are reading it as soon as it's ready

Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Jun 23

Just curious, why is that? I just submitted a preprint for the first time and I'm not sure why I hesitated up to this point

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Reposted by Iva Zovkic

Andrew MacAskill @macaskillaf.bsky.social · Jun 19

🚨🚨Job Alert🚨🚨!! Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology are recruiting a new lecturer/associate professor! an amazing opportunity to join our fantastic dept! @ucl.ac.uk @ucllifesciences.bsky.social @uclnpp.bsky.social post here:
www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Lecturer / Associate Professor - London, England job with University College London (UCL) | 12840324

About usThe Division of Biosciences at UCL is one of the world's foremost centres for research and teaching in the biological sciences. We have an out

www.nature.com

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Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Jun 14

Congratulations, Mark!!

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Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Jun 2

Thanks, Mark! Couldn't have done it without you

Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Jun 2

Thanks, Jibran!!

Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Jun 2

8/8 Together, these data suggest that histone variants are vital to understanding chromatin dysregulation in AD and that opposing changes in male and female mice indicate a need for distinct therapeutic intervention.

Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Jun 2

7/n To test the functional relevance of H2A.Z, we found that H2A.Z.1 depletion in the mouse hippocampus IMPROVED memory, amyloid beta and tau pathology in females and WORSENED these markers in male mice, suggesting that H2A.Z has opposing effects on H2A.Z in male and female disease.

Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Jun 2

6/n Moreover, H2A.Z.1 depletion altered expression of distinct genes in each sex, suggesting that it is altering distinct disease pathways.

Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Jun 2

5/n Despite limited changes in H2A.Z occupancy in male mice, H2A.Z was more transcriptionally repressive in 5xFAD than in WT males, suggesting a shift in transcriptional regulation. H2A.Z was also more repressive in females than males.

Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Jun 2

4/n Female mice first showed a dramatic increase in H2A.Z at early disease stage, followed by decrease in later disease stages. In contrast, males had no change in early disease, but increased H2A.Z binding as disease progressed.

Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Jun 2

3/n To understand the function of H2A.Z dysregulation in the human brain, we used the 5xFAD mouse model of AD. Sex differences were recapitulated in mice and varied with age.

Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Jun 2

2/n Here, we show that the histone variant H2A.Z is a sex-specific regulator of Alzheimer's disease. First, we show that H2A.Z levels decline of hippocampal chromatin of female AD patients, while they increase in male AD patients.

Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Jun 2

1/n Histone variants are a key component of neuronal chromatin, but their role in AD is unknown. Histone variants are structurally and functionally district proteins that replace canonical histones in chromatin. Their occupancy in neurons increases with age, indicating a role in age-related disease.

Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Jun 2

Opposing effects of H2A.Z on memory, transcription and pathology in male and female Alzheimer's disease mice and patients

www.biorxiv.org

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Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · May 23

What a great meeting, it was so good to see you and take a deep dive into your work

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Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · May 22

Wow wow wow! Congratulations on the @canacn.bsky.social new Investigator award to @markcembrowski.bsky.social. Absolutely fantastic seminar to celebrate a most deserved award. Congratulations!

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Reposted by Iva Zovkic

Marija Kundakovic @kundakoviclab.bsky.social · May 21

If you are at @canacn.bsky.social , don't miss our symposium on Thurs 1:30 pm:

A genomics approach towards understanding sex differences in cognition, mental health, and neurodevelopment.

w @descalzi.bsky.social @ivazovkic.bsky.social @derubeislab.bsky.social @walkerde.bsky.social

See you there!

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Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · May 21

What an honor to host the @CAN_ACN public lecture by these 2 brilliant speakers. Thank you @sjo09.bsky.social and @barense.bsky.social for delivering such engaging lectures on memory to a packed house.

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Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · May 16

Office views @uoftmississauga.bsky.social

Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · May 14

If you are in Toronto on Tuesday next week, please consider coming to see a FREE public lecture on memory, delivered by the amazing @sjo09.bsky.social and @barense.bsky.social . Tix at this link can-acn.org/meeting-2025... Please repost and hope to see you there!

CAN 2025 Public Lectures: Neuroscience of memory and tools for making our memories stronger – Canadian Association for Neuroscience

can-acn.org

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Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Mar 27

Very cool, congrats!!

Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Mar 25

Congratulations!!

Iva Zovkic @ivazovkic.bsky.social · Mar 25

Thank you!