Friedrich Miescher Laboratory
Interdisciplinary career jump-board
The Friedrich Miescher Laboratory (FML) is a research institute of the Max Planck Society named after Friedrich Miescher, a Swiss physician who discovered DNA in Tübingen. The FML is part of the Max Planck Campus Tübingen, which is also home to the Max Planck Institutes for Biology Tübingen, for Biological Cybernetics and for Intelligent Systems. The research groups at the FML are currently working on various aspects of biology.
Research groups
Research Group Leader: Dr. Felicity Jones
The Jones group studies how variation in genome function in natural populations facilitates adaptation to different environments and the evolution of new species. We combine diverse functional genomic and population genomic techniques to study adaptive divergence in gene regulation, epigenomics, recombination, and adaptation from standing genetic variation. Our work leverages divergent natural populations and their hybrid zones in a powerful evolutionary model system: threespine stickleback fish.
Research Group Leader: Dr. Luisa F. Pallares
Our research focuses on understanding the genetic basis of between-individual variation in complex traits and how such complex genetic architectures, instead of being static properties of a trait, get re-shaped when populations are exposed to different environments (genotype-by-environment interactions or GxE). In addition, we are particularly interested in understanding how phenotypic robustness is regulated in such traits. That is, we aim to understand not only why individuals in a population look different from each other, but also why some individuals are more vulnerable than others when exposed to perturbations like stressful or new environments.
Research Group Leader: Dr. Frank Chan
Adaptation occurs all around us. Our DNA is the product of millions of years of evolution. Our group aims to connect genetic variation with its phenotypic and evolutionary impact. We want to understand how the genome encodes for robust development, and yet retains ample flexibility to respond rapidly to selection. To do so, we leverage uniquely informative systems like hybrid mice and selection experiments and apply (or invent!) cutting-edge genomic and stem cell techniques to chart the genetic circuitry of the genome as an dynamic system.
Research Group Leader: Dr. John Weir
We are engaged in biochemical studies that enable the crossing of genetic information in the test tube with synthetic DNA. For this, we will increasingly be able to use hybrid structural biological approaches and combine different methods to obtain as complete a picture as possible of the systems of interest to us. In doing so, we aim to address phenomena specific to vertebrate and, in particular, human meiosis. In the long term, we hope that our work could be of use to clinicians helping people with fertility problems or genetic diseases.
