Courtney Hanna

Courtney Hanna is a Fellow at the University of Cambridge, affiliated with the School of Biological Sciences. Her research focuses on molecular and epigenetic regulators of placental development, with specific interests in epigenetics, gene regulation, placenta development, and lineage specification. She employs techniques such as molecular biology, genomic sequencing, single cell RNA-sequencing, bioinformatics, genetics, and imaging. Her work is part of the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience.

Courtney Hanna is a researcher in the fields of epigenetics, developmental biology, chromatin, genomic imprinting, and placenta. Her work explores the molecular mechanisms underlying early placental development, DNA methylation changes in response to environmental contaminants, and the role of imprinted methylation in the human placenta. She investigates how chromatin modifications, such as H3K4 trimethylation, influence gene regulation during oocyte development and how non-canonical imprinting is driven by endogenous retroviral insertions. Her research also examines the impact of prenatal environmental factors on the fetal and placental epigenome, as well as the relationship between telomere length and reproductive aging. Hanna's studies highlight the importance of epigenetic regulation in development and the limitations of using the mouse as a model for human biology.