2022     Ph.D.   J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia. University Postgraduate Interdisciplinary Doctoral Study - Molecular Biosciences

2015     M.Sc.   Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ), Zürich, Switzerland - Cell Biology

2013     B.Sc.   University of Zagreb, Faculty of Science, Zagreb, Croatia - Molecular Biology

2024 - 2027 "Genomics and epigenomics of holocentromeres in nematodes Meloidogyne" (Croatian Science Foundation) - collaborator

2023 - 2024 “Centromeres and telomeres in nematodes (ChromoNemaTellite)” (Program Hubert Curien “Cogito”) - collaborator

2020 - 2024 "(Epi)genomics and transcriptomics of euchromatic satellite DNAs in embryogenesis and development (Croatian Science Foundation)" - collaborator

2019 - 2022 "Development of genomic markers for rapid identification of parasitic nematodes and effective methods of pest control" (Adris Foundation) - collaborator

2017 - 2020 "Invertebrate centromere genomics" (Croatian Science Foundation) - collaborator

• Genomics and epigenomics of holocentromeres in nematodes Meloidogyne - HOLOCEN

  20.12.2024 - 19.12.2027 | 199,525.00 EUR

  CroRISIRB

• Centromeres and telomeres in nematodes - ChromoNemaTellite

  20.01.2023 - 19.01.2025 | 10,000.00 EUR

  CroRISIRB

• (Epi)genomics and transcriptomics of euchromatic satellite DNAs in embryogenesis and development - EpiTranSat

  15.02.2020 - 14.02.2024 | 132,404.27 EUR

  CroRISIRB

2026 - Ruđer Bošković Institute’s Award for the best publications in 2024 (Volarić et al., 2024)

2024 - Ruđer Bošković Institute’s Award for the best publications in 2022 (Despot-Slade et al., 2022)

2022 - Ruđer Bošković Institute’s Award for the best publications in 2021 (Despot-Slade et al., 2021)

2022 - Annual "Željko Trgovčević" award of Croatian Genetic Society for publication in 2021 (Despot-Slade et al., 2021)

2022 - Annual prize of Society of university teachers and the other scientist in Zagreb for publication in 2021 (Despot-Slade et al., 2021)

2022 - Annual “Branimir Jernej” reward for publication in 2021 (Despot-Slade et al., 2021)

2021 - Ruđer Bošković Institute’s Award for the best publications in 2020 (Gržan et al., 2020)

Original scientific paper

• Despot-Slade, Evelin; Volarić, Marin; Veseljak, Damira; Horvat, Lucija; Semenić, Lana; Zotta Mota, Ana Paula; Poullet, Marine; Danchin, Etienne G. J.; Mravinac, Brankica; Meštrović, Nevenka | Reproductive mode and ploidy are associated with distinct organization of clustered centromeric regions in Meloidogyne nematodes // Genome biology, 27 (2026), 241, 37. doi: 10.1186/s13059-026-04122-x

  doifulir.irb.hrlink.springer.com

• Veseljak, Damira; Despot-Slade, Evelin; Volarić, Marin; Horvat, Lucija; Meštrović, Nevenka; Mravinac, Brankica | Tribolium madens satellitome reveals a network of highly abundant satellite DNAs in megabase-sized regions hallmarked by macro-dyad symmetries // Genome biology, 27 (2026), 131, 30. doi: 10.1186/s13059-026-04022-0

  doifulir.irb.hrlink.springer.com

• Shakya, Pallavi; Maulana, Muhammad I.; Danchin, Etienne G. J.; Voogt, M. Laurens; van de Ruitenbeek, Stefan J. S.; Gimeno, Jacinta; Taranto, Adam P.; Blundell, Alison C.; Despot-Slade, Evelin; Meštrović, Nevenka et al. | High-resolution genome assembly and linkage mapping in Meloidogyne hapla reveal non-canonical telomere repeats and recombination hotspots associated with effector proteins // Plos pathogens, 21 (2025), 11; e1013706, 30. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1013706

  doijournals.plos.orgfulir.irb.hr

• Veseljak, Damira; Despot-Slade, Evelin; Volarić, Marin; Horvat, Lucija; Vojvoda Zeljko, Tanja; Meštrović, Nevenka; Mravinac, Brankica | Dynamic evolution of satellite DNAs drastically differentiates the genomes of Tribolium sibling species // Genome research, 35 (2025), 11; 2445-2460. doi: 10.1101/gr.280516.125

  doigenome.cshlp.orgfulir.irb.hr

• Volarić, Marin; Despot-Slade, Evelin; Veseljak, Damira; Pavlek, Martina; Vojvoda Zeljko, Tanja; Mravinac, Brankica; Meštrović Radan, Nevenka | The Genome Organization of 5S rRNA Genes in the Model Organism Tribolium castaneum and Its Sibling Species Tribolium freemani // Genes, 15 (2024), 6; 776, 11. doi: 10.3390/genes15060776

  doiwww.mdpi.comfulir.irb.hr

• Mota, Ana Paula Zotta; Koutsovoulos, Georgios D.; Perfus-Barbeoch, Laetitia; Despot-Slade, Evelin; Labadie, Karine; Aury, Jean-Marc; Robbe-Sermesant, Karine; Bailly-Bechet, Marc; Belser, Caroline; Péré, Arthur et al. | Unzipped genome assemblies of polyploid root-knot nematodes reveal unusual and clade-specific telomeric repeats // Nature communications, 15 (2024), 1; 773, 18. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-44914-y

  doiwww.nature.comfulir.irb.hr

• Volarić, Marin; Meštrović, Nevenka; Despot-Slade, Evelin | SatXplor—a comprehensive pipeline for satellite DNA analyses in complex genome assemblies // Briefings in bioinformatics, 26 (2024), 1; bbae660, 12. doi: 10.1093/bib/bbae660

  doiacademic.oup.comfulir.irb.hr

• Volarić, Marin; Despot-Slade, Evelin; Veseljak, Damira; Mravinac, Brankica; Meštrović, Nevenka | Long-read genome assembly of the insect model organism Tribolium castaneum reveals spread of satellite DNA in gene-rich regions by recurrent burst events // Genome research, 34 (2024), 11; 1878-1894. doi: 10.1101/gr.279225.124

  doiwww.genome.orgfulir.irb.hr

• Gržan, Tena ; Dombi, Mira ; Despot-Slade, Evelin ; Veseljak, Damira ; Volarić, Marin ; Meštrović, Nevenka ; Plohl, Miroslav ; Mravinac, Brankica | The Low-Copy-Number Satellite DNAs of the Model Beetle Tribolium castaneum // Genes, 14 (2023), 5; 999, 21. doi: 10.3390/genes14050999

  doiwww.mdpi.comfulir.irb.hr

• Despot-Slade, Evelin ; Širca, Saša ; Mravinac, Brankica ; Castagnone-Sereno, Philippe ; Plohl, Miroslav ; Meštrović, Nevenka | Satellitome analyses in nematodes illuminate complex species history and show conserved features in satellite DNAs // BMC biology, 20 (2022), 1; 259, 19. doi: 10.1186/s12915-022-01460-7

  doibmcbiol.biomedcentral.comfulir.irb.hr

• Volarić, Marin ; Despot-Slade, Evelin ; Veseljak, Damira ; Meštrović, Nevenka ; Mravinac, Brankica | Reference-Guided De Novo Genome Assembly of the Flour Beetle Tribolium freemani // International journal of molecular sciences, 23 (2022), 11; 5869, 18. doi: 10.3390/ijms23115869

  doiwww.mdpi.comdoi.orgfulir.irb.hr

• Volarić, Marin ; Veseljak, Damira ; Mravinac, Brankica ; Meštrović, Nevenka ; Despot-Slade, Evelin | Isolation of High Molecular Weight DNA from the Model Beetle Tribolium for Nanopore Sequencing // Genes, 12 (2021), 8; 1114, 12. doi: 10.3390/genes12081114

  doiwww.mdpi.comdoi.orgfulir.irb.hr

• Despot-Slade, Evelin ; Mravinac, Brankica ; Širca, Saša ; Castagnone-Sereno, Philippe ; Plohl, Miroslav ; Meštrović, Nevenka | The Centromere Histone Is Conserved and Associated with Tandem Repeats Sharing a Conserved 19-bp Box in the Holocentromere of Meloidogyne Nematodes // Molecular biology and evolution, 38 (2021), 5; 1943-1965. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msaa336

  doiacademic.oup.comdoi.orgfulir.irb.hr

• Gržan, Tena ; Despot-Slade, Evelin ; Meštrović, Nevenka ; Plohl, Miroslav ; Mravinac, Brankica | CenH3 distribution reveals extended centromeres in the model beetle Tribolium castaneum // PLOS genetics, 16 (2020), 10; e1009115, 28. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009115

  doijournals.plos.orgdoi.orgfulir.irb.hr

• Tunjić Cvitanić, Monika ; Vojvoda Zeljko, Tanja ; Pasantes, Juan J. ; García-Souto, Daniel ; Gržan, Tena ; Despot-Slade, Evelin ; Plohl, Miroslav ; Šatović, Eva | Sequence composition underlying centromeric and heterochromatic genome compartments of the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas // Genes, 11 (2020), 695; 695, 20. doi: 10.3390/genes11060695

  doiwww.mdpi.comfulir.irb.hr

• Öztürk, Ece ; Despot-Slade, Evelin ; Pichler, Michael ; Zenobi-Wong, Marcy | RhoA activation and nuclearization marks loss of chondrocyte phenotype in crosstalk with Wnt pathway // Experimental cell research, 360 (2017), 2; 113-124. doi: 10.1016/j.yexcr.2017.08.033

  doiwww.sciencedirect.com

• Öztürk, Ece ; Hobiger, Stefanie ; Despot-Slade, Evelin ; Pichler, Michael ; Zenobi-Wong, Marcy | Hypoxia regulates RhoA and Wnt/β-catenin signaling in a context-dependent way to control re-differentiation of chondrocytes // Scientific reports, 7 (2017), 1; 9032, 11. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-09505-6

  doiwww.nature.comwww.nature.comfulir.irb.hr

Conference abstract

• Despot-Slade, Evelin; Volarić, Marin; Veseljak, Damira; Horvat, Lucija; Semenić, Lana; Zotta Mota, Ana Paula; Poullet, Marine; Danchin G.J., Etienne; Mravinac, Brankica; Meštrović Radan, Nevenka | Centromeres in the nematode Meloidogyne species share conserved epigenetic and genetic determinants // Euro EvoDevo 2006 Programme Book / Becker, Annette (ur.). | Glasgow: Glasgow: EED organizing committees, 2026. str. 466-466

• Despot-Slade, Evelin; Volarić, Marin; Veseljak, Damira; Horvat, Lucija; Semenić, Lana; Mota, Ana Paula Zotta; Poullet, Marine; Danchin, Etienne G. J.; Mravinac, Brankica; Meštrović Radan, Nevenka | Centromere organization in Meloidogyne shaped by reproductive strategy and ploidy // Euro EvoDevo 2006 Programme Book / Becker, Annette (ur.). | Glasgow: Glasgow: EED organizing committees, 2026. str. 467-467

• Veseljak, Damira; Volarić, Marin; Despot-Slade, Evelin; Meštrović Radan, Nevenka; Mravinac, Brankica | The genomes of Tribolium sibling species framed by the evolution of satellite DNAs // Program and Abstracts, Arthropod Satellite Meeting, Helsinki 2024 / Chipman, Ariel; El-Sherif, Ezzat; van der Zee, Maurijn et al. (ur.). | Helsinki: EED organizin committees, 2024. str. 31-31

• Veseljak, Damira; Despot-Slade, Evelin; Volarić, Marin; Meštrović Radan, Nevenka; Mravinac, Brankica | Satellitomes of flour beetles from the genus Tribolium: an evolutionary perspective // Euro EvoDevo 2004 Programme Book / Kratochwil, Claudius (ur.). | Helsinki: EED organizing committees, 2024. str. 567-567

• Volarić, Marin; Despot-Slade, Evelin; Meštrović Radan, Nevenka; Mravinac, Brankica; Veseljak, Damira | Oxford Nanopore Sequencing reveals complex mechanisms of repetitive DNA propagation in Tribolum castaneum // International congress on transposable elements 2024 : Abstract book. | Saint Malo: ICTE, 2024. str. 154-154

  icte2024.sciencesconf.org

• Despot-Slade, Evelin; Volarić, Marin; Mravinac, Brankica; Meštrović Radan, Nevenka | Epigenetic regulation of repetitive DNA in insect Tribolium castaneum // International congress on transposable elements 2024 : Abstract book. | Saint Malo: ICTE, 2024. str. 76-76

  icte2024.sciencesconf.org

• Mota, Ana; Koutsovoulos, Georgios D; Perfus-Barbeoch, Laetitia; Despot-Slade, Evelin; Labadie, Karine; Aury, Jean-Marc; Robbe-Sermesant, Karine; Bailly-Bechet, Marc; Belser, Caroline; Péré, Arthur et al. | End of the beginning: M. incognita telomeres are only at one side of the chromosomes // X-Meeting presentations / Ciamponi, Felipe Eduardo; Magalhães, Maithê Gaspar Pontes (ur.). | Even3 - R. do Brum, 248 - Segundo andar - Recife, PE, 50030-260, 2023, -, 1

  www.even3.com.br

• Veseljak, Damira; Despot-Slade, Evelin; Volarić, Marin; Meštrović Radan, Nevenka; Mravinac, Brankica | Dynamic evolution of satellite DNAs drastically alters genomes of Tribolium sibling species // Abstract Book: the Evolution of Animal Genomes. | European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), 2023. str. 148-148

• Despot-Slade, Evelin ; Volarić, Marin ; Meštrović, Nevenka | Transcriptomics of euchromatic satellite DNAs in embryogenesis and development // Epigenome inheritance and reprogramming in health and disease : Abstract book. | 2022. str. 17-17

  meetings.embo.org

• Volarić, Marin ; Despot-Slade, Evelin ; Meštrović, Nevenka | Nanopore based analyses of genome-wide DNA methylation profiles through Tribolium castaneum development // Epigenome inheritance and reprogramming in health and disease : Abstract book. | 2022. str. 22-22

  meetings.embo.org

• Volarić, Marin; Despot-Slade, Evelin; Meštrović, Nevenka | Preliminary analyses of genome-wide DNA methylation profiles through the Tribolium castaneum development using nanopore long reads // Chromatin Structure and Function - GRC Poster List. | 2022. str. 11-11

• Koutsovoulos, Georgios D. ; Despot-Slade, Evelin ; Da Rocha, Martine ; Caravel, Claire ; Abad, Pierre ; Meštrović, Nevenka ; Danchin, Etienne G.J. | The strange chromosome ends of root-knot nematodes // 7th International Congress of Nematology ICN 2022 "Crossing borders: a world of nematode diversity and impact to discover" : book of abstracts. | 2022. str. 185-185

• Despot-Slade, Evelin ; Širca, Saša ; Mravinac, Brankica ; Castagnone-Sereno, Philippe ; Plohl, Miroslav ; Meštrović, Nevenka | Satellitome evolution illuminates complex species history and satellite DNA transcriptomes show coordinated expression in Meloidogyne nematodes // 7th International Congress of Nematology ICN 2022 "Crossing borders: a world of nematode diversity and impact to discover" : book of abstracts. | 2022. str. 327-327

• Volarić, Marin ; Veseljak, Damira ; Mravinac, Brankica ; Meštrović, Nevenka ; Despot-Slade, Evelin | Nanopore sekvenciranje kukaca roda tribolium s tvrdim egzoskeletom // 6. simpozij studenata doktorskih studija PMF-a : knjiga sažetaka = 6th Faculty of Science PhD student symposium : book of abstracts. | Zagreb: Prirodoslovno-matematički fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, 2022. str. 238-239

  www.pmf.unizg.hr

• Despot-Slade, Evelin ; Mravinac, Brankica ; Širca, Saša ; Castagnone-Sereno, Philippe ; Plohl, Miroslav ; Meštrović, Nevenka | Epigenomics of holocentromere // Simpozij studenata doktorskih studija PMF-a : knjiga sažetaka = PhD student symposium 2021 : book of abstracts. | Zagreb: Prirodoslovno-matematički fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, 2021. str. 185-186

  www.pmf.unizg.hr

• Volarić, Marin ; Despot-Slade, Evelin ; Meštrović, Nevenka | Long-range organisation of holocentromeres // Simpozij studenata doktorskih studija PMF-a : knjiga sažetaka = PhD student symposium 2021 : book of abstracts. | Zagreb: Prirodoslovno-matematički fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, 2021. str. 267-268

  www.pmf.unizg.hr

• Gržan, Tena ; Despot Slade, Evelin ; Meštrović, Nevenka ; Plohl, Miroslav ; Mravinac, Brankica | Centromere epigenomics of the three closely related Tribolium species // HDBMB 2019 Crossroads in Life Sciences : Book of Abstracts. | Zagreb: Hrvatsko društvo za biokemiju i molekularnu biologiju (HDBMB), 2019. str. 86-86

• Despot Slade, Evelin ; Pavlek, Martina ; Mravinac, Brankica ; Castagnone-Sereno, Phillipe ; Plohl, Miroslav ; Meštrović, Nevenka | Centromere of the nematode Meloidogyne ; characterization of centromere specific H3 protein (CENH3) and underlying DNA sequences // Molecular Biophysics: ABC of the puzzle of Life. | Institut Ruđer Bošković ; Hrvatsko biofizičko društvo, 2019. str. 82-82

  arbre-mobieu.eu

• Despot Slade, Evelin ; Širca, Saša ; Plohl, Miroslav ; Meštrović, Nevenka | Comparative satellitome analysis reveals the polyploid hybrid origin in holocentric nematodes // 4th Congress of Croatian Geneticists with International Participation : Book of Abstracts. | Zagreb: Hrvatsko genetičko društvo, 2018. str. 43-43

  pubweb.carnet.hr

• Despot Slade, Evelin ; Pavlek, Martina ; Mravinac, Brankica ; Castagnone-Sereno, Phillipe ; Plohl Miroslav ; Meštrović, Nevenka | Root-knot nematodesas a model for centromere (epi)genomics and satellitome research // 4th Congress of Croatian Geneticists with International Participation : Book of Abstracts. | Zagreb: Hrvatsko genetičko društvo, 2018. str. 35-35

  pubweb.carnet.hr

• Born, Anne-Kathrin ; Despot Slade, Evelin ; Zenobi-Wong, Marcy | A collagen 2 reporter for online identification of chondrogenic microenvironments // eCM XV - Cartilage & Disc: Repair and Regeneration. | 2014. str. 61-61

  www.ecmconferences.org

• Schmid, Tobias ; Snoek, L.Basten ; Rodriguez, Miriam ; van der Bent, M.Leontien ; Despot Slade, Evelin ; Kammenga, Jan E. ; Hajnal, Alex | Natural variation in Monoamine Oxidase A modulates RAS/MAPK pathway activity during C.elegans vulval development // The 5th EMBO meeting abstract book. | 2013. str. 49-49

Unpublished conference paper

• Volarić, Marin: Meštrović, Nevenka; Despot-Slade, Evelin | Primjena naprednog računanja za sklapanje visoko repetitivnih genoma // Dani e-infrastrukture Srce DEI 2024 | Zagreb, Hrvatska, 16.04.2024-19.04.2024

Bachelor's thesis (university)

• Despot Slade, Evelin | Epigenetics and Transposable Elements / Besendorfer, Višnja (mentor). | Zagreb, Prirodoslovno-matematički fakultet, Zagreb, 2013

  urn.nsk.hr

Master's thesis (university)

• Despot Slade, Evelin | Role of Axin2/β-catenin in chondrocyte de/re-differentiation / Öztürk, Ece ; Zenobi-Wong, Marcy (mentor). | Zürich, 2015

Doctoral thesis

• Despot-Slade, Evelin | Characterization and evolution of centromere in nematodes of the genus Meloidogyne / Meštrović Radan, Nevenka (mentor). | Osijek, Sveučilište Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku / Sveučilište u Dubrovniku, 2022

  rektorat.unios.hr