The Epigenetics and neurobiology unit studies varied mammalian physiological phenomena from a molecular perspective in the context of the whole organism with a very strong emphasis, following a recent refocusing of our research on Neurobiology and Epigenetics and their interface.
The research of all groups is centered on the study of the mouse as a model organism and this research is underpinned by a state-of-the-art animal facility, and the provision of a full range of core facilities including mouse transgenic and gene editing technologies, viral vector engineering, imaging, histology, flow cytometry, microscopy, and an efficient and user friendly administration. Additional support for our researchers is available through the EMBL Core Facilities on the main Heidelberg site (Genomics, Electron Microscopy, Metabolomics, Protein Expression, Advanced Light Microscopy, and Proteomics).
Recent advances in delivery and editing technologies have dramatically increased the ease and rapidity with which genetic and epigenetic perturbations can be introduced into the mouse genome allowing increasingly sophisticated causal experimental approaches in this organism. Such technologies are currently routinely exploited by all groups in the Unit.
Current research topics include the epigenetic control of early developmental processes, neural circuits and behavior, neural computation, somatosensation and the biology of blood cell development and differentiation.
Visual systems neuroscience
Dynamics of epigenetic regulation
Heritable gene silencing in mammals
Neural control of instinctive behaviour
Epigenetic reprogramming and inheritance
Understanding the formation of hematopoietic progenitor and stem cells during development
Advanced optical techniques for deep tissue microscopy
Visual circuits in the thalamus
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Researchers at EMBL-EBI make sense of vast, complex biological datasets produced using new and emerging technologies in molecular biology.
Scientists in this unit use multidisciplinary approaches to investigate the molecular and biophysical mechanisms that enable cells to function.
Scientists in the Developmental Biology Unit seek to understand the fundamental principles that govern multicellular development.
The Directors' Research Unit covers thematically distinct research groups, headed by EMBL and EMBO leadership.
The Genome Biology Unit uses and develops cutting-edge methods to study how the information in our genome is regulated, processed, and utilised, and how its alteration leads to disease.
Scientists in this unit use integrated structural and computational techniques to study biology at scales from molecular structures to organismal communities.
At its sites in Hamburg and Grenoble, EMBL provides its researchers and hundreds of external users each year with access to world-leading sources of X-ray and neutron radiation, enabling them to study the structures of biological molecules.
Scientists at EMBL Barcelona use advanced technologies to observe, manipulate, and model how changes in genes percolate through cells, tissues, and organs, in health and disease.