Molecular Targets and Therapeutics Center

Institute of Functional Epigenetics

At the Institute of Functional Epigenetics (IFE), we aim to uncover how epigenetic information is stored and how the environment controls our epigenome to identify novel therapeutic targets.

At the Institute of Functional Epigenetics (IFE), we aim to uncover how epigenetic information is stored and how the environment controls our epigenome to identify novel therapeutic targets.

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About Our Research

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Research Groups

Cabianca_Celegans_Larvae1

Cabianca Lab

Environment and Nuclear Organization

We aim to understand how environmental inputs modulate the state, spatial organization, and function of chromatin, using the roundworm C. elegans as a model system.

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Schmoller Lab

Cell and Organelle Size Control

We study the impact of cell size on cell function and investigate how cells coordinate growth and division to control their size.

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Schneider Lab

Chromatin Dynamics and Epigenetics

We decipher the molecular mechanisms underlying epigenetic inheritance and epigenetic regulation of cellular function. Decoding such epigenetic processes is crucial to developing novel solutions for environmentally triggered diseases for a healthier society.

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Cellular Decision Making

Scialdone Lab

Physics and data-based modelling of cellular decision making

We use artificial intelligence to decode the molecular mechanism behind cellular decision-making e.g., during early mammalian development.

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News & Highlights

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photosynthesis green pattern

Environmental Health, EPI, Molecular Targets and Therapeutics, IFE,

More Than Waste: Photorespiration Shapes the Plant Epigenome

Photorespiration has long been regarded as an energetically costly side reaction of photosynthesis, reducing plants’ net carbon gain. Now, researchers at Helmholtz Munich, in collaboration with Heidelberg University and the Technical University of…

When Metabolism Meets Chromatin: Histone Acylations Tune Gene Expression

IFE,

When Metabolism Meets Chromatin: Histone Acylations Tune Gene Expression

Metabolic dysfunction is a hallmark of numerous diseases, including diabetes and other metabolic disorders. But how do changes in our metabolism affect our cells and the way they function? How do they influence our genes?

The DNA is packaged into chromatin

IES, IFE,

Empowering Young Scientists: Applications Open for 2026 Chromatin Summer School

Talented PhD students are encouraged to apply for the upcoming Chromatin Summer School taking place from 17 - 29 August 2026

Exhibition Stem Cells at Deutsches Museum_For Website

Events, Stem Cells, IES, Molecular Targets and Therapeutics, IFE,

Exhibition on Cell Identity at the Deutsches Museum

How do the many different cells in the human body emerge from a single stem cell – and what makes each one unique? The Epigenetics Community at Helmholtz Munich explores these questions in a special exhibition at the Deutsches Museum. From 14. to 16.…

July 2025 GRC Conference Italy - Group photo

IFE,

GRC “Histone and DNA modifications” 2025 organised by Robert Schneider

The 2025 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) "Histone and DNA modifications" conference was organized by Robert Schneider from the Institute for Functional Epigenetics (IFE) at Helmholtz Munich

IFE,

Histone modifications in development

New graphical review produced by Prof. Dr. Robert Schneider and PhD. student Yu-Hao Liu.

IFE Members

Portrait_Robert_Schneider_freigestellt
Prof. Dr. Robert Schneider

Director of the Institute of Functional Epigenetics

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Portrait Till Bartke IFE
Dr. Till Bartke

Deputy Director of the Institute of Functional Epigenetics

Daphne Cabianca picture
Dr. Daphne Selvaggia Cabianca

Group Leader, Institute of Functional Epigenetics, Molecular Targets & Therapeutics Center

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Portrait Kurt Schmoller
Dr. Kurt Schmoller

Group Leader, Institute of Functional Epigenetics

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Portrait Antonio Scialdone
Institute for Epigenetics and Stem Cells
Dr. Antonio Scialdone

Group Leader, Institute of Epigenetics and Stem Cells

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Porträt Jessica Pellegrino
Dr. Jessica Pellegrino

Postdoc

Igor.png Portrait
Dr. Igor Kukhtevich

Postdoc

Kevin Brockers
Dr. Kevin Brockers

Postdoc

Dr. Andrey Tvardovskiy

Postdoc

Portait Francesco Padovani
Dr. Francesco Padovani

Postdoc

Porträt Lukas Krauß
Lukas Krauß

Computational Biologist

SamuelLeCam_Photo-Identité2023
Dr. Samuel Le Cam

Postdoc

Porträt Simona Nasiscionyte
Simona Nasiscionyte

Doctoral Researcher

Porträt Magdalena Valenta
Magdalena Valenta

Doctoral Researcher

Benedikt Mairhörmann
Benedikt Mairhörmann

Doctoral Researcher

Alissa Finster

Doctoral Researcher

Arohi Khurana_IFE
Arohi Khurana

Doctoral Researcher, EpiCrossBorders

Eric Yu-Hao Liu
Yu-Hao (Eric) Liu

Doctoral Researcher, EpiCrossBorders

Yuri_DAlessio
Yuri D'Alessio

Doctoral Researcher

Fernanda Plabst Images
Fernanda Pabst

Doctoral Researcher

Carole.png
Carole Zaratiegui

Doctoral Researcher

Bärbel Löffler

Lab Manager

Daniela Bureik
Daniela Bureik

Research Technician

Katharina Arnold

Doctoral Researcher

Johanna Hornung
Johanna Hornung

Research Technician

Potrait of Doctoral Researcher Soumodeep Sakar
Soumodeep Sarkar

Doctoral Researcher

Portrait shot of Timon Stegmaier for IFE website
Timon Stegmaier

Doctoral Researcher

Portrait Iratxe Estivariz IFE Shooting 28.06.2022
Dr. Iratxe Estivariz

Postdoc

Lorenz Pudelko
Portrait
IFE
Staff Images Dr. Amelie J. Kraus
Lorenz Pudelko

Doctoral Researcher

Luisa Hernández Götz

Doctoral researcher

Self portrait of Anne Sophie Pepin, postdoc at Prof. Dr. Robert Schneider at the IFE Helmholtz Munich
Dr. Anne-Sophie Pépin

Postdoc

Porträt Lorenza Mottes; IFE; Hintergrund: grau
Lorenza Mottes

Doctoral Researcher

Porträt Rattan Kaur; IFE; Hintergrund: grau
Rattan Kaur

Doctoral Researcher

Portrait_Palma_Rico
License: Staff Images Dr. Amelie J. Kraus
Palma Rico-Lastres
Portrait Thomas Gerling
Thomas Gerling

Administrative Assistant

Latest Publications

Nat. Cell Biol. 28, 323-337 (2026)

Langstein-Skora, I. ; Schmid, A. ; Huth, F. ; Shabani, D. ; Spechtenhauser, L. ; Likhodeeva, M. ; Kunert, F. ; Metzner, F.J. ; Emenecker, R.J. ; Richardson, M.O. ; Aftab, W. ; Götz, M.J. ; Payer, S. ; Pietrantoni, N. ; Valka, V. ; Ravichandran, S.K. ; Bartke, T. ; Karl-Peter, H. ; Gerland, U. ; Korber, P. ; Holehouse, A.S.

Sequence and chemical specificity define the functional landscape of intrinsically disordered regions.
Cell Metab., DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2025.12.018 (2026)

Papa, C. ; Rose, A. ; Martin, H.N.G. ; Useini, A. ; Geier, F. ; Liao, L. ; Rodriguez Aguilera, J.R. ; Valina-Allo, P. ; Hoffmann, A. ; Tvardovskiy, A. ; Zulfqar, F. ; Zimmerman, A. ; Schicht, G. ; Ott, F. ; Körner, C. ; Engelmann, B. ; Rolle-Kampczyk, U. ; von Bergen, M. ; Meier, M. ; Bartke, T. ; Seehofer, D. ; Klöting-Blüher, N. ; Matz-Soja, M. ; Damm, G. ; Boeckel, J.N. ; Buescher, J.M. ; Blüher, M. ; Laufs, U. ; Bondareva, O. ; Sträter, N. ; Künze, G. ; Heiker, J.T. ; Sheikh, B.N.

Bempedoic acid directly binds and activates PPARα.
eLife 15:RP109269 (2026)

Proulx-Giraldeau, F. ; Gao, X. ; Chadha, Y. ; Xiao, J.Y. ; Schmoller, K.M. ; Skotheim, J.M. ; François, P.

Division asymmetry drives cell size variability in budding yeast.
PLoS Genet. 22:e1011836 (2026)

Thoma, F. ; Hagen, J. ; Rathberger, R. ; Padovani, F. ; Hörl, D. ; Schmoller, K.M. ; Osman, C.

Local mitochondrial physiology defined by mtDNA quality guides purifying selection.
Mol. Cell 86, 24-40.e10 (2026)

Nitsch, S. ; Coraor, A.E. ; Schauer, T. ; Wu, Y. ; Sun, J. ; Möritz, N. ; Funke, J.J. ; Nagpal, H. ; Chua, G.N.L. ; Battistini, F. ; Lauberth, S.M. ; Richard, E.M. ; Orozco, M. ; Liu, S. ; Desviat, L.R. ; Fierz, B. ; Dietz, H. ; Roeder, R.G. ; de Pablo, J.J. ; Schneider, R.

H4K16 acylations destabilize chromatin architecture and facilitate transcriptional response during metabolic perturbations.
Nat. Commun. 16:11334 (2025)

Oak, M.S. ; Stock, M. ; Janeva, A. ; Mezes, M. ; Hynes-Allen, A.M. ; Straub, T. ; Forné, I. ; Ettinger, A. ; Hamperl, S. ; Imhof, A. ; van den Ameele, J. ; Scialdone, A. ; Hörmanseder, E.

Pre-marking chromatin with H3K4 methylation is required for accurate zygotic genome activation and development.

Padovani, F. ; Stegmaier, T. ; Mairhörmann, B. ; Schmoller, K.M.

Analysis of multidimensional microscopy data using cell-ACDC.
EMBO J., DOI: 10.1038/s44318-025-00571-5 (2025)

Kukhtevich, I. ; Persson, S. ; Padovani, F. ; Schneider, R. ; Cvijovic, M. ; Schmoller, K.M.

The origin of septin ring size control in budding yeast.
Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 32, 2128-2129 (2025)

Iturbide Martinez De Albeniz, A. ; Ruiz Tejada Segura, M.L. ; Noll, C. ; Schorpp, K.K. ; Rothenaigner, I. ; Ruiz-Morales, E.R. ; Lubatti, G. ; Agami, A. ; Hadian, K. ; Scialdone, A. ; Torres-Padilla, M.E.

Addendum: Retinoic acid signaling is critical during the totipotency window in early mammalian development.
Mol. Cell 85, 3554-3561 (2025)

Keogh, M.C. ; Almouzni, G. ; Andrews, A.J. ; Armache, K.J. ; Arrowsmith, C.H. ; Baek, S.H. ; Bedford, M.T. ; Bernstein, E. ; Côté, J.-A. ; David, Y. ; Denu, J.M. ; Fierz, B. ; Garcia, B.A. ; Glass, K.C. ; Gozani, O. ; Helin, K. ; Henikoff, S. ; Jensen, O.N. ; Josefowicz, S.Z. ; Kelleher, N.L. ; Kutateladze, T.G. ; Lindner, H.H. ; Lu, C. ; Luger, K. ; Mallick, P. ; Musselman, C.A. ; Muir, T.W. ; Pasa-Tolic, L. ; Schneider, R. ; Shi, X. ; Shi, Y. ; Sidoli, S. ; Smith, L.M. ; Tyler, J.K. ; Wolberger, C. ; Workman, J.L. ; Strahl, B.D. ; Young, N.L.

A needed nomenclature for nucleosomes.
Mol. Nutr. Food Res. 69:e70261 (2025)

Skerrett-Byrne, D.A. ; Pepin, A.-S. ; Laurent, K. ; Beckers, J. ; Schneider, R. ; Hrabě de Angelis, M. ; Teperino, R.

Dad's diet shapes the future: How paternal nutrition impacts placental development and childhood metabolic health.
Development 152:dev204384 (2025)

Liu, Y.-H. ; Schneider, R.

Histone modifications in development.
Stem Cell Rep. 20:102447 (2025)

Zikmund, T. ; Fiorentino, J. ; Penfold, C. ; Stock, M. ; Shpudeiko, P. ; Agarwal, G. ; Langfeld, L. ; Petrova, K. ; Peshkin, L. ; Hamperl, S. ; Scialdone, A. ; Hörmanseder, E.

Differentiation success of reprogrammed cells is heterogeneous in vivo and modulated by somatic cell identity memory.
Sci. Adv. 11:eado1350 (2025)

Neupane, J. ; Lubatti, G. ; Gross-Thebing, T. ; Ruiz Tejada Segura, M.L. ; Butler, R.H. ; Gross-Thebing, S. ; Dietmann, S. ; Scialdone, A. ; Surani, M.A.

The emergence of human primordial germ cell-like cells in stem cell-derived gastruloids.
Mol. Syst. Biol. 21, 214-230 (2025)

Stock, M. ; Losert, C. ; Zambon, M. ; Popp, N. ; Lubatti, G. ; Hörmanseder, E. ; Heinig, M. ; Scialdone, A.

Leveraging prior knowledge to infer gene regulatory networks from single-cell RNA-sequencing data.

Our Institute in Numbers

35
Employees
15
Nationalities
4467
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Networks and Affiliations

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Epigenetics@Helmholtz Munich

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Logo  EpiCrossBorders - Epigenetics across Borders

Research School EpiCrossBorders

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International Training Network Cell2Cell

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CRC Chromatin Dynamics

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Logo Sonderforschungsbereich 1309

CRC Chemical Biology of Epigenetic Modifications

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German Research Foundation

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Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

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chromatin visualized using 3D-printed nucleosomes (by Igor Kukhtevich) and crochet yarn

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Thomas Gerling

Administrative Assistant

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