To sustain life in different environments, cells and organisms must adjust to different conditions and external cues. In contrast to immediate and mostly transient responses to short-term stimuli, processes of long-term adaptation require lasting changes in gene expression patterns. Such epigenetic changes are controlled on the level of chromatin, the packaging form of eukaryotic genomes. Here, different chemical modifications are associated with distinct functional states of chromatin. Prof. Fischle's research aims to gain detailed and molecular understanding of fundamental epigenetic processes. In particular, he is investigating how modifications and small cellular molecules interplay to direct different structural and functional states of chromatin. To address these problems, Prof. Fischle is applying highly interdisciplinary approaches. These include advancing technologies for establishing and analyzing complex chromatin systems in vitro (biochemistry and biophysics), molecular and cellular biology for studying essential chromatin components and global analysis of modules of epigenetic regulation.

Epigenetics