Projects of 2020
Cell-size-dependent regulation of chromatin in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Size is a fundamental cellular property that is not only tightly linked to cell function and growth, but also sets the scale of all intracellular processes. Studying cell-size dependent regulation of chromatin-related processes in traditional model systems such as yeast or cell culture is complicated... Read more
Keywords: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, chromatin organization, development, cell size, proteome, quantitative fluorescence microscopy
Main Supervisor: Dr. Kurt Schmoller
Group: Cell and Organelle Size Control
Institute: Institute of Functional Epigenetics
Collaborating supervisor: Prof. Nick Colegrave
Group: Colegrave Group, Unitversity of Edinburgh
Statistical methods for 3D spatial reconstruction of omic profiles
Omics data have opened new frontiers in the molecular description and understanding of how cells work. Nowadays, it is possible to probe gene activity, DNA accessibility and other molecular phenotypes with a single-cell resolution. However, spatial information...Read more
Keywords: spatial omics, mouse tissues, compotational models, developmentof statistical methods, Bayesian models,
Supervisor: Dr. Antonio Scialdone
Group: Physics and data-based modelling of cellular decision making
Institute: Institute of Epigenetics and Stem Cells
Collaborating supervisor: Catalina Vallejos
Group: Vallejos Group: Biomedical Data Science
Institute: MRC Human Genetics Unit
Decoding genomic signatures of metabolic reprogramming in diabetes and obesity
Excess of food intake is the leading cause of metabolic disease. Over-nutrition alters those metabolic programs required to maintain energy balance, by affecting nutrient and hormonal signaling. Crucial to this adaptation is the remodeling of target gene expression. The transcriptional control of metabolic homeostasis... Read More
Keywords: metabolic disease, over-nutrition, metabolic homeostasis, Next-generation sequencing, computational biology
Supervisors: Prof. Nina Henriette Uhlenhaut & Dr. Fabiana Quagliarini
Group: Division Molecular Endocrinology
Institute: Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology & TUM school of Lifesciences
Collaborating supervisor: Prof. Chris Ponting
Group: Chris Ponting Research Group: Computational and Disease Genomics
Institute: MRC Human Genetics Unit
Redox-regulation of epigenetic mechanisms in response to future climate conditions
Global temperatures and harmful atmospheric gases will continue to rise in the decades to come and adversely affect plant physiology. Plants are inducing mechanisms, which helps them to cope with such stressful environmental conditions. The response includes initiation of redox-signaling, epigenetic processes (e. g. histone modifications and DNA-methylation) and transcriptional reprogramming. Despite the recognized importance of cellular redox-mechanisms, the identity... Read more
Keywords: plant physiology, redox-signaling and epigenetic functions, climate change, DNA methylation, histone modifications
Supervisor: Dr. Christian Lindermayr
Group: Redox-Signaling and Chromatin Modulation
Institute: Institute of Biochemical Plant Pathology
Collaborating supervisors: Prof. Steven Spoel & Prof. Gary Loake
Groups: Spoel Research Group & Loake Lab
Institute: Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences
Deciphering the function of novel histone modifications
Covalent modifications of histones can regulate all DNA dependent processes such as transcription, replication, DNA repair etc. Our aim is to unravel how histone modifications in the core of the nucleosome regulate cellular functions, development and their deregulation in diseases such as cancer or diabetes... Read more
Keywords: Histone modifications, 4D Chromatin organization, ES cells, Human cancer cell lines, Chromatin biochemistry
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Robert Schneider
Group: Chromatin Dynamics and Epigenetics
Institute: Institute of Functional Epigenetics
Collaborating supervisor: Prof. Wendy Bickmore
Group: Wendy Bickmore Research Group: Spatial Organisation of the Human Genome
Institute: MRC Human Genetics Unit