Fiona M. Watt

Thymic keratin76 shapes skin-specific central tolerance

This study shows that keratin76 in the thymus is crucial for central tolerance to skin and oral mucosa antigens, as its loss leads to autoimmune responses.

Plasticity of squamous differentiation drives drug resistance in HNSCC

This study shows that some HNSCC cells resist differentiation despite being capable of it, highlighting a barrier to differentiation-based therapies.

Pathogenic Keratinocyte States and Fibroblast Niches Define the Tissue Microenvironment in Severe Hidradenitis Suppurativa

This study uses single-cell RNA-sequencing and spatial transcriptomics to characterize keratinocyte states and fibroblast niches in severe HS lesions, revealing spatially distinct interactions that may explain treatment resistance.

Cell volume regulates terminal differentiation of cultured human epidermal keratinocytes

This study shows that cell volume, influenced by substrate interactions and osmotic treatments, regulates differentiation of human epidermal keratinocytes independently of substrate topography.

Reconstructing human Brown Fat developmental trajectory in vitro

This study uses single-cell RNA sequencing to identify brown fat precursors and demonstrates their in vitro differentiation into functional brown adipocytes.

Population-scale proteome variation in human induced pluripotent stem cells

The paper characterizes proteome variation across 202 human iPSC lines, identifies 700 pQTLs, and links pQTLs to disease-associated GWAS variants.

CD147 (BSG) but not ACE2 expression is detectable in vascular endothelial cells within single cell RNA sequencing datasets derived from multiple tissues in healthy individuals

The paper examines CD147 and ACE2 expression in vascular endothelial cells using single-cell RNA sequencing data from multiple tissues, finding CD147 detectable while ACE2 is not.

Single-cell RNA-seq of differentiating iPS cells reveals dynamic genetic effects on gene expression

The paper uses single-cell RNA-seq of differentiating iPS cells from 125 donors to identify expression quantitative trait loci influencing gene expression during endoderm differentiation.

High-throughput micro-patterning platform reveals Nodal-dependent dissection of peri-gastrulation-associated versus pre-neurulation associated fate patterning

The paper develops an in vitro platform to study fate patterning in hPSCs, revealing Nodal-dependent switches between gastrulation and neurulation-associated gene profiles.

Hair Follicle Epidermal Stem Cells Define a Niche for Tactile Sensation

The paper identifies a niche of hair follicle epidermal stem cells that support tactile sensation by maintaining stable interfaces with mechanosensory structures.

Fibroblast state switching orchestrates dermal maturation and wound healing

The paper shows fibroblast state switching between proliferation and ECM deposition defines dermal architecture and is critical for wound healing.

Generative adversarial networks simulate gene expression and predict perturbations in single cells

A Wasserstein GAN trained on three batch-uncorrected mouse epidermal scRNA-seq datasets simulates realistic cells, predicts differentiation via latent arithmetic, and infers gene networks recovering Gata6 targets.

Identifying extrinsic versus intrinsic drivers of variation in cell behaviour in human iPS cell lines from healthy donors

The paper integrates genetic and cell biological data from human iPSC lines to identify intrinsic and extrinsic factors driving inter-individual variability in cell behavior.

Epidermal Wnt signalling regulates transcriptome heterogeneity and proliferative fate in neighbouring cells

The paper investigates how Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in neighboring cells affects transcriptome heterogeneity and proliferative fate in mouse keratinocytes.

A protein phosphatase network controls temporal and spatial dynamics of differentiation commitment in human epidermis

In suspended human keratinocytes, five induced phosphatases dampen ERK to drive differentiation commitment, opposed by DUSP10, in a time-rewired network that renders commitment an unstable switch.