Head of Group Epigenetic Engineering
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Stefan H. Stricker
"We aim to develop gentler yet highly efficient ways to encourage cells to replace those lost in the body—ultimately making cellular reprogramming possible without viruses or even DNA delivery."
Academic Career and Research Areas
Stefan Stricker aims to understand the mechanisms that maintain cell identity throughout life and how these mechanisms can be manipulated to enable the controlled conversion of one cell type into another. Achieving this goal requires uncovering how cell identity is established and stabilized, and how dormant genes can be reactivated to initiate alternative genetic programs. This research lies at the intersection of epigenetics, cellular reprogramming, and technological innovation—an interface that defines the work of the Stricker lab.
To address these questions, the lab employs a broad range of CRISPR-based technologies to investigate, both in vitro and in vivo, which epigenetic modifications and gene activities are functionally relevant for maintaining cell identity or driving disease phenotypes in the brain. For this, a part of his lab focuses on developing and applying approaches for CRISPR-based epigenome editing.
Stefan Stricker completed his PhD in 2008 at the Research Center for Molecular Medicine in Vienna, Austria, where he received the B.I.F scholarship to study the mechanisms of genomic imprinting. He then received an EMBO postdoctoral fellowship to continue his research at the University of Cambridge and the UCL Cancer Institute in London, UK. During this time, he further investigated epigenetic mis-regulation in human glioblastomas.
In 2014, he returned to Germany as a research associate at the Helmholtz Munich. In 2017, he secured a Roche–MCN Junior Research Group, enabling him to establish his own laboratory as a junior principal investigator. Since then, he has been leading a research group at the Helmholtz Stem Cell Institute and was appointed Professor at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich in 2021.
His group investigates the epigenetic mechanisms that govern cell identity while developing innovative tools for CRISPR-based epigenome editing. In addition to his research, Stefan Stricker actively contributes to the scientific community through a variety of academic and public initiatives aimed at strengthening and advancing the scientific landscape.
Professional Background
PhD Studies (University of Vienna / Research Center for Molecular Medicine, Austria)
Postdoc researcher (Welcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research, University of Cambridge, UK and UCL Cancer Institute, London, UK)
Scientist (LMU Munich and Helmholtz Center for Environmental Health, Munich, Germany)
Roche-MCN Junior Group leader (LMU Munich, Germany)
Group Leader (Biomedical Center Munich, LMU and Institute of Stem Cells in Helmholtz Munich, Germany)
W2 Professor for Regeneration and Reprogramming, LMU Munich and Helmholtz Munich; Dept. Physiological Genomics, Biomedical Center, LMU Munich
