Our Faculty

IMPRS-EBM PhD program

Group leaders are members of the IMPRS program and are affiliated either to the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, or the University of Freiburg. Their research focuses on epigenetics, metabolism, functional genomics, biochemistry, biophysics, non-coding RNAs, and cell biology.

Dr. Asifa Akhtar

Research areas:

Non-coding RNA in dosage compensation
Chromosome dynamics and gene expression
The role of the NSL complex in gene regulation
Function of the mammalian MSL and NSL complexes

Dr. Jumana AlHaj Abed

Research areas:

Effect of 3D chromosome structure on gene regulation
Interaction of maternal and paternal chromosomes using genomic approaches and super-resolution imaging

Dr. Jörg Büscher

Research areas:

Take snapshots of a metabolic state by metabolite quantification
Study metabolic pathway usage by 13C label tracing

Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Cissé

Research area:
In the Cissé research laboratory, we use physical techniques to visualize weak and transient biological interactions, and to study their emergent phenomena directly in living cells with single molecule sensitivity.

Prof. Dr. Anne Classen

Research areas:
» Signalling in tissue stress response » Cell proliferation during regeneration and cancer » Epigenetic and chromatin plasticity » Actomyosin contractility and cell-cell adhesion in epithelial tissue

Dr. Ayele Denboba

Research area:
Decipher the regulatory role of gut microbiota in gametogenesis, embryogenesis, epigenetic inheritance mechanisms, and identify microbiome-derived metabolites that regulate fat mass homeostasis.

Prof. Dr. Katharina Domschke

Research area:
We investigate stress-associated and emotional mental disorders by combining clinical and neurobiological, particularly (epi)genetic approaches.

Prof. Dr. Simon Elsässer

» Mechanism of cell identity and fate decisions in early development » Rapid perturbation biology and synthetic control of chromatin states » Mitotic bookmarking and cell cycle-dependent chromatin dynamics » Epigenomics method development & human epigenetics

Dr. Valentin Flury

Research areas:
» Inheritance of histones and epigenetic memory across DNA replication » Chromatin dynamics and plasticity through the cell cycle » Post-translational (histone) modification crosstalk in yeast and mammalian cells

Dr. Juliane Glaser

Research areas:
» Mechanisms of transposable elements causing developmental diseases » Contribution of transposable elements to embryo formation » Genome regulation during mammalian development

Dr. Sukanya Guhathakurta

Research areas:

Metabolism-Epigenetics in human organogenesis
Metabolic regulation of epigenetics and cellular identity
Mitochondrial structure & function in health & disease

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Sjon Hartman

Research areas:

Epigenetic plant responses to flooding
Epigenetic Stress Memory
Ethylene and Hypoxia Signalling Generation and Integration

Professor Dr. Thorsten Hugel

We use single molecule fluorescence methods to investigate molecular machines and signaling in biological systems. We focus on understanding complex dynamic biological processes in and out of equilibrium.

Dr. Nicola Iovino

Research areas:

Chromatin regulation in the early embryo
Epigenetic reprogramming of gametes
Germline epigenetic inheritance
De novo establishment of epigenetic memory

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kleine-Vehn

Research area:
We investigate how plants encode environmental information into lasting developmental decisions by uncovering the molecular, biophysical, and metabolic mechanisms that shape signalling memory and growth.

Dr. Claudine Kraft

Research area:
Dissecting molecular mechanisms of autophagy to understand its role in disease and complex biological systems

Dr. Gerhard Mittler

Research areas:

Developing custom-tailored protein (-complex) purification and MS analysis strategies for defined biological questions
State-of-the-art Mass Spectrometry (MS) analysis service

Dr. Giorgos Pyrowolakis

Research areas:

Dynamics of morphogen signaling
Cell and developmental biology of BMP signaling
Cis-regulatory principles in developmental signaling and patterning

Prof. Dr. Marc Timmers

Research areas:

Histone methylation in cancer
Epigenetic control of gene transcription
Proteomic analyses of transcription and chromatin complexes

Dr. Peter Walentek

Research areas:

Self-organization in biological systems.
Tissue formation, regeneration and stem cells in development and disease
Signaling, transcriptional, post-transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of cilia

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Former IMPRS-IEM Faculty still with IMPRS doctoral researchers

Dr. Roberto Bonasio

Research areas:

Molecular mechanisms of epigenetic memory
Noncoding RNAs
Chromatin biochemistry
Genes and behavior

Dr. Nina Cabezas-Wallscheid

Research areas:

Regulation of hematopoietic and leukemic stem cell quiescence
Regulation of hematopoietic stem cell niche

Prof. Dr. Georg Gasteiger

Research areas:

Local players in immunity: development, functions and tissue-niches of resident innate lymphoid and memory cells
A systems immunology view of multicellular immune responses

Prof. Dr. Dominic Grün

Research areas:
» Cell fate decision and plasticity in the immune system and the liver » Role & regulation of gene expression noise during cell fate decision » Experimental / computational methods for quantitative single-cell analysis