Dounia graduated from the University of Paris Descartes and obtained a Master’s degree in Genetics (Magistère Européen de Génétique, 2009–2011). She obtained her PhD in 2016 from the University of Sorbonne Paris Cité, working in the lab of Michele Goodhardt at the Institut de Recherche Saint-Louis, where she uncovered the crucial role of H3K9 trimethylation pathway in haematopoietic stem cell ageing and human B-lymphopoiesis. For her postdoctoral studies, she moved to the UK and joined the lab of Amanda Fisher at the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (Imperial College London), where she investigated the mechanisms underlying epigenetic memory and cell identity inheritance through mitosis. During this time, she developed innovative approaches combining chromosome flow sorting with high-throughput proteomics to dissect the mitotic transmission of cell identity in mouse stem cells. In 2022, she was awarded the Wellcome Trust Springboard Award to initiate her transition to independence with a research programme on the epigenetic memory of X-chromosome inactivation at the University of Oxford. In 2024, she was laureate of the ATIP-Avenir programme and was appointed a CR CNRS position. She established her research group at the Epigenetics and Cell Fate Centre (University of Paris Cité), where her team investigates the epigenetic memory and mitotic inheritance of B-lymphoid lineage identity and its link to immune diseases.
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