Heinig Lab
Genetic and Epigenetic Gene RegulationOverview
The Heinig lab is located at the Institute of Computational Biology, which is part of the Computational Health Center of Helmholtz Munich.
Together with my research group, I develop AI solutions for personalized network based precision medicine.
Technological advances allow for an unprecedented in-depth characterization of the molecular basis of complex diseases. In particular SNP genotyping, DNA methylation assays and gene expression profiling in large cohorts and in single cells have been used to identify numerous disease associated loci and genes. However, a deeper mechanistic or systems level understanding of disease processes still remains elusive in most cases.
The aim of our research is the development and application of computational and statistical tools for the identification of molecular regulatory networks underlying common diseases and the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms controlling these networks from population level DNA and multi-omics data sets. In a second step we aim to personalize the networks based on single cell data. This will enable us to implement new concepts for precision medicine. A special focus is the molecular characterization of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.