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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò
@munafomarzia.bsky.social
730 followers 170 following 33 posts
Exploring oocyte epigenomes @EMBL Hackett lab | PhD @Cambridge Uni Hannon lab | (small)RNA enthusiast. Scientific illustrator outside the lab.
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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · Nov 20
Time for an new intro under these skies 🔵
I’m a molecular biologist (currently postdoc-ing at EMBL) & also a science illustrator - taking your scientific discoveries and turning them into unconventional, colourful and creative illustrations! ✨ #sciart #scicomm
more at www.munafomarzia.com
A black and white pencil drawing inspired by Escher’s drawing hands in which the hands emerge from a nucleosome structure A blue/purple drawing of the interior of a cathedral, with light shining through the glass panes and projecting a DNA shape on the floor Drawing of a gloved hand of a scientist holding a purple spark, on grey background A watercolour drawing of a water landscape surrounded by mountains with a cell jumping on the water like a skipping stone
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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · 7h
Big congrats to my brilliant colleagues and friends, check out the full study here www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Embryonic signatures of intergenerational epigenetic inheritance across paternal environments and genetic backgrounds | The EMBO Journal
imageimagePaternal environmental exposures have been linked with modulation of phenotype and disease risk in offspring via largely unclear mechanisms. This study employs in vitro fertilization and single-embryo transcriptomics to reveal that ...
www.embopress.org
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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · 7h
Intriguingly, the scale and resolution of the study enabled them to capture how embryonic gene expression varies upon different exposures. Hence, the color variations illustrate the spectrum of subtle phenotypic changes detected in otherwise seemingly identical embryos 🟢🟡🟣⚪️🔴
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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · 7h
To robustly identify the earliest molecular signatures of inter generational inheritance, they profiled 100s of embryos, across 3 paternal treatments, 2 paternal ages and 2 genetic backgrounds - represented here by an array of mouse blastocysts (each a real microscopy pic!) 🐁🐁
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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · 7h
POP art, with its serial repetitions and many colour variations of otherwise identical objects perfectly embodies this systematic, impressively large-scale study and its key findings.
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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · 7h
The multifaceted effects of paternal environments on offspring🌈

Latest from the @jamiehackett.bsky.social lab @embl.org, out now @embojournal.org:

@bbbranjan.bsky.social & @mdura.bsky.social quantitatively investigate the impact of paternal environments on early embryogenesis.

A #sciart 🧵
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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · 14d
Talking to students is by far one of my favourite parts of this job ✨

#EUCYS 2025 was a hive of brilliant scientists in the making, so grateful to @embl.org & EIROforum for the opportunity to be there with my science & art!

#scicomm #sciart #stem @ec.europa.eu
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Reposted by Marzia Munafò
itaiyanai.bsky.social
Itai Yanai @itaiyanai.bsky.social · Aug 24
By the way, the image for this talk about how cancer cells adapt was painted by the amazing Marzia Munafò! Thank you @munafomarzia.bsky.social!
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Reposted by Marzia Munafò
pauligroup.bsky.social
Pauli Group (posts by Andi Pauli) @pauligroup.bsky.social · Jun 18
At least for science in the #oocyte community, the future looks bright with so many curious & young minds thinking about big open questions in oocyte and reproductive biology! Thanks so much to @mhverlhac.bsky.social and @bokelab.bsky.social for organizing and bringing us all together in Paris!
vdeneke.bsky.social
Victoria Deneke @vdeneke.bsky.social · Jun 18
Can’t believe I had the chance to visit beautiful Paris and connect with the amazing #oocyte community! Thank you @mhverlhac.bsky.social and @bokelab.bsky.social for bringing together a fantastic group of speakers and organizing the meeting in such a stunning venue. Can’t wait for the next one! 🥚
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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · Jun 18
Super oocyte community - had a fantastic time in Paris! 🙌
vdeneke.bsky.social
Victoria Deneke @vdeneke.bsky.social · Jun 18
Can’t believe I had the chance to visit beautiful Paris and connect with the amazing #oocyte community! Thank you @mhverlhac.bsky.social and @bokelab.bsky.social for bringing together a fantastic group of speakers and organizing the meeting in such a stunning venue. Can’t wait for the next one! 🥚
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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · Jun 16
Spotted one of my illustrations on stage at the Singer-Polignac #fertility meeting in Paris! Big thanks to Andrea Pauli for the shout out!! 💫
#sciart #scicomm
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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · Feb 26
Fully agree!
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Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · Feb 26
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
pamferretti.bsky.social
Pamela Ferretti @pamferretti.bsky.social · Feb 26
Personally, I've always found it particularly exciting when scientists and artists work together, brainstorming ideas and tapping into their creative sides ✨️
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Reposted by Marzia Munafò
pamferretti.bsky.social
Pamela Ferretti @pamferretti.bsky.social · Feb 26
Last week @richabdill.com and @samanthagraham.bsky.social's paper was featured on the cover of Cell!

The cover, portraying microbes on shelves shaped like a world map, was possible thanks to the amazing team of illustrators at SciStories ✏️🦠
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Reposted by Marzia Munafò
beatascienceart.bsky.social
Beata Science Art @beatascienceart.bsky.social · Dec 14
🤩 Art by @drewberry.bsky.social @loliboldu.bsky.social @patriciabondia.bsky.social @jayeperview.bsky.social @hudrewthis.bsky.social @molmir.bsky.social @munafomarzia.bsky.social @snowotarski.bsky.social @marykoreilly.bsky.social @biyolokum.bsky.social @ahnaskop.bsky.social @bryanwelm.bsky.social
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Reposted by Marzia Munafò
vdeneke.bsky.social
Victoria Deneke @vdeneke.bsky.social · Dec 13
Thank you, @munafomarzia.bsky.social, for this amazing artistic representation of our work! 🤩🐟❤️
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Reposted by Marzia Munafò
vdeneke.bsky.social
Victoria Deneke @vdeneke.bsky.social · Dec 13
I loved how subtle aspects were incorporated into this piece, like the tripartite key, drawings of sperm and egg on the door and even some phylogenetic trees!
🌟 But did you notice, what lies beyond the door? Ribosomes and molecules found within the egg!
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Reposted by Marzia Munafò
vdeneke.bsky.social
Victoria Deneke @vdeneke.bsky.social · Dec 13
Check out this beautiful representation of our work by @munafomarzia.bsky.social uncovering the molecular bridge between sperm and egg! 🔑🤩

We had lots of fun brainstorming together with Marzia and seeing our discoveries come to life in this artistic rendition 🧵
munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · Dec 12
Unlocking fertilisation 🗝️
out today @cellcellpress.bsky.social , @vdeneke.bsky.social & @pauligroup.bsky.social uncover a conserved
protein complex on vertebrate sperm that recognizes distinct egg ligands in mammals and fish, enabling fertilisation.
@impvienna.bsky.social
A #sciart and #scicomm 🧵
An illustration of a door slightly ajar, with glass panels depicting images of fish, oocytes, spermatozoa and a mouse. A key is inserted in the keyhole and emanates a bright light. On the keychain there are multiple other keys.
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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · Dec 13
Thanks Joaquina! 😍😍
Reposted by Marzia Munafò
joadelas.bsky.social
Joaquina Delas @joadelas.bsky.social · Dec 13
I was already in love with the science in this paper! ... and on top of that... #sciart on the same story by the one and only @munafomarzia.bsky.social
munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · Dec 12
Unlocking fertilisation 🗝️
out today @cellcellpress.bsky.social , @vdeneke.bsky.social & @pauligroup.bsky.social uncover a conserved
protein complex on vertebrate sperm that recognizes distinct egg ligands in mammals and fish, enabling fertilisation.
@impvienna.bsky.social
A #sciart and #scicomm 🧵
An illustration of a door slightly ajar, with glass panels depicting images of fish, oocytes, spermatozoa and a mouse. A key is inserted in the keyhole and emanates a bright light. On the keychain there are multiple other keys.
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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · Dec 12
To read more —> check out the study here www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
A conserved fertilization complex bridges sperm and egg in vertebrates
AlphaFold-Multimer predicts complex formation by three sperm proteins conserved in vertebrates. Their interaction is experimentally confirmed and shown to bridge sperm and egg during fertilization by interacting with evolutionarily unrelated egg proteins.
www.cell.com
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Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · Dec 12
Notably, the sperm complex is conserved from fish to mammals whilst its oocyte binding partner differs, that is why we show both 🐠 and 🐁 on the door.
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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · Dec 12
To design the door, I took inspiration from Art Nouveau - which had some of its prime examples in the Viennese art scene of early XX century, which o really love. Plus the Pauli Group is indeed based at the Vienna Biocenter!
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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · Dec 12
The functional key is made of three different segments, exemplifying the tripartite complex of Tmem81, Izumo1 and Spaca6. But before identifying Tmem81, they ran an in silico screen - equivalent to testing a bunch of different keys 🔑🗝️🗝️🔐 until they found the correct one.
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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · Dec 12
Deneke, Blaha et al. report that a tripartite complex on the sperm heads binds to a receptor on the egg surface and is required for egg-sperm fusion. We decided to use a simple metaphor for this: a tripartite key unlocking the oocyte door and opening the way to embryonic development. 🚪
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munafomarzia.bsky.social
Marzia Munafò @munafomarzia.bsky.social · Dec 12
Unlocking fertilisation 🗝️
out today @cellcellpress.bsky.social , @vdeneke.bsky.social & @pauligroup.bsky.social uncover a conserved
protein complex on vertebrate sperm that recognizes distinct egg ligands in mammals and fish, enabling fertilisation.
@impvienna.bsky.social
A #sciart and #scicomm 🧵
An illustration of a door slightly ajar, with glass panels depicting images of fish, oocytes, spermatozoa and a mouse. A key is inserted in the keyhole and emanates a bright light. On the keychain there are multiple other keys.
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