Epigenetic Control of Complex Disease
Chromatin plasticity in metabolism and cancer. Introduction. Current estimates place the prevalence of diabetes and obesity in the range of 300 million to...
Laboratory J. Andrew Pospisilik
Epigenetic control of complex disease
Current estimates place the prevalence of diabetes and obesity in the range of 300 million to beyond 1 billion by the year 2030. As critical risk factors for heart disease, cancer and stroke, obesity and diabetes currently represent one of the world's chief economic and health care challenges. While studies have established elegant genetic frameworks for our current understanding of these complex disorders, the contribution of a number of critical regulatory layers, in particular epigenetic regulation, remain poorly understood.
Our lab is interested in defining epigenetic regulatory systems that contribute to the susceptibility and development of complex disease. These paradigms are broad and include, among others, post-translational modifications of histones, non-coding RNAs, and modifiers of chromatin stability such as the Polycomb-Trithorax Groups. What is clear at present is that these epigenetic effectors play a critical role in defining set-points for entire functional gene sets; the fundamental outstanding question we are interested in is how these epigenetic cues influence the susceptibility and development of human disease.
Group Leader
1976
Born in Vancouver, Canada
Undergraduate studies in Physiology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
2003
PhD studies at the University of British Columbia, Vanvouver, Canada
2004-2009
Postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, Vienna, Austria
Since March 2010
Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg, Germany
Project Areas
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Functional translation of epigenetic cues
A compliment to the first strategy, our second long-term goal is to functionally characterize disease-specific epigenetic modifications in vivo. These studies,...
Recent Publications
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Osteoclast differentiation factor RANKL controls development of progestin-driven mammary cancer.
Schramek D, Leibbrandt A, Sigl V, Kenner L, Pospisilik JA, Lee HJ, Hanada R, Joshi PA, Aliprantis A, Glimcher L, Pasparakis M, Khokha R, Ormandy CJ, Widschwendter M, Schett G, Penninger JM. (2010)
Nature 468, 98-102 -
A genome-wide Drosophila screen for heat nociception identifies ?2?3 as an evolutionarily conserved pain gene.
Neely GG, Hess A, Costigan M, Keene AC, Goulas S, Langeslag M, Griffin RS, Belfer I, Dai F, Smith SB, Diatchenko L, Gupta V, Xia CP, Amann S, Kreitz S, Heindl-Erdmann C, Wolz S, Ly CV, Arora S, Sarangi R, Dan D, Novatchkova M, Rosenzweig M, Gibson DG, Truong D, Schramek D, Zoranovic T, Cronin SJ, Angjeli B, Brune K, Dietzl G, Maixner W, Meixner A, Thomas W, Pospisilik JA, Alenius M, Kress M, Subramaniam S, Garrity PA, Bellen HJ, Woolf CJ, Penninger JM. (2010)
Cell 143, 628-38 -
Drosophila genome-wide obesity screen reveals hedgehog as a determinant of brown versus white adipose cell fate.
Pospisilik, J.A., Schramek, D., Schnidar, H., Cronin, S.J., Nehme, N.T., Zhang, X., Knauf, C., Cani, P.D., Aumayr, K., Todoric, J., Bayer, M., Haschemi, A., Puviindran, V., Tar, K., Orthofer, M., Neely, G.G., Dietzl, G., Manoukian, A., Funovics, M., Prager, G., Wagner, O., Ferrandon, D., Aberger, F., Hui, C.C., Esterbauer, H. and Penninger, J.M. (2010)
Cell 140, 148-60 -
A global in vivo Drosophila RNAi screen identifies NOT3 as a conserved regulator of heart function.
Neely, G.G., Kuba, K., Cammarato, A., Isobe, K., Amann, S., Zhang, L., Murata, M., Elmén, L., Gupta, V., Arora, S., Sarangi, R., Dan, D., Fujisawa, S., Usami, T., Xia, C.P., Keene, A.C., Alayari, N.N., Yamakawa, H., Elling, U., Berger, C., Novatchkova, M., Koglgruber, R., Fukuda, K., Nishina, H., Isobe, M., Pospisilik, J.A., Imai, Y., Pfeufer, A., Hicks, A.A., Pramstaller, P.P., Subramaniam, S., Kimura, A., Ocorr, K., Bodmer, R. and Penninger, J.M. (2010)
Cell 141, 142-53 -
Toll-like receptor 2-deficient mice are protected from insulin resistance and beta cell dysfunction induced by a high-fat diet.
Ehses, J.A., Meier, D.T., Wueest, S., Rytka, J., Boller, S., Wielinga, P.Y., Schraenen, A., Lemaire, K., Debray, S., Van Lommel, L., Pospisilik, J.A., Tschopp, O., Schultze, S.M., Malipiero, U., Esterbauer, H., Ellingsgaard, H., Rütti, S., Schuit, F.C., Lutz, T.A., Böni-Schnetzler, M., Konrad, D. and Donath, M.Y. (2010)
Diabetologia Epub Apr21 -
AIF: not just an apoptosis-inducing factor.
Joza, N., Pospisilik, J.A., Hangen, E., Hanada, T., Modjtahedi, N., Penninger, J.M. and Kroemer, G. (2009)
Ann NY Acad Sci. 1171, 2-11 -
Genome-wide RNAi screen identifies genes involved in intestinal pathogenic bacterial infection.
Cronin, S.J., Nehme, N.T., Limmer, S., Liegeois, S., Pospisilik, J.A., Schramek, D., Leibbrandt, A., Simoes Rde, M., Gruber, S., Puc, U., Ebersberger, I., Zoranovic, T., Neely, G.G., von Haeseler, A., Ferrandon, D. and Penninger, J.M. (2009)
Science 325, 340-343 -
The molecular archaeology of a mitochondrial death effector: AIF in Drosophila.
Joza, N., Galindo, K., Pospisilik, J.A., Benit. P., Rangachari, M., Kanitz, E.E., Nakashima, Y., Neely, G.G., Rustin, P., Abrams, J.M., Kroemer, G. and Penninger JM. (2008)
Cell Death Differ. 15, 1009-1018
Group Members
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Group Leader
Pospisilik, John Andrewphone: -757
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Postdoctoral Fellows
Gossens, Klausphone: -792
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Jayaramaiah Raja, Sunilphone: -793
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Öst, Anitaphone: -793
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Teperino, Raffaelephone: -793
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Ph.D. Students
Dalgaard, Kevinphone: -792
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Lu, Tsai-Hsiuphone: -792
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Selvaraj, Madhanphone: -793
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Technicians
Ruf, Mariusphone: -792
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Student Assistants
Tiko, Theodhorphone: -793 / -792
