Research Interests
Epigenetic mechanisms control eukaryotic development beyond DNA-stored information. There are many pathways, such as DNA methylation, nucleosome remodelling, histone modifications, exchange of histone variants and non-coding RNAs that together contribute to differences of the chromatin template. In particular, the great diversity of covalent histone tail modifications has been proposed to reflect an index ('histone code') that can stabilize distinct proliferative and developmental options. We discovered the first histone lysine methyltransferase and then showed that histone lysine methylation represents a central epigenetic modification in eukaryotic chromatin. We are continuing with our analyses on histone lysine methylation to further dissect epigenetic gene regulation and to identify molecular pathways that initiate and maintain heterochromatic domains in mammalian chromatin.
Curriculum Vitae
Thomas Jenuwein received his Ph.D. in molecular biology in 1987 from the EMBL, working on fos oncogenes in the laboratory of Rolf Müller and the University of Heidelberg and performed postdoctoral studies (1987-1993) on the immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) enhancer with Rudolf Grosschedl at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). As an independent group leader (1993-2002) and then as a senior scientist (2002-2008) at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna, he focused his research to chromatin regulation. Through this work, he and his team discovered the first histone lysine methyltransferase (KMT) that was published in 2000. He is currently director at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg, Germany where he heads the Department of Epigenetics. From 2004 to 2009, he coordinated the EU-funded network of excellence 'The Epigenome', which connected more than 80 laboratories in Europe. Jenuwein is also co-editor of the first textbook on 'Epigenetics' that was published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press in 2007 and 2015. He is an ambassador for the dissemination of Science and is actively engaged with public lectures and radio and TV documentations to inform lay audiences about 'Epigenetics'.