EPFL BioE Talks SERIES "Charting Cellular Responses to Genotoxic Stress by Multidimensional Imaging"
Event details
| Date | 23.02.2026 |
| Hour | 12:15 › 13:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Matthias Altmeyer, Department of Molecular Mechanisms of Disease, University of Zurich (CH) |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
WEEKLY EPFL BIOE TALKS SERIES (sandwiches provided)
Abstract:
Cellular heterogeneity is pervasive in nature yet insufficiently represented in ensemble behaviors of cell populations. Although biological processes affected by cell-to-cell variation are manifold, from developmental plasticity to tumor heterogeneity and differential drug responses, its sources remain largely unknown. Mutational and epigenetic signatures from cancer genomics are powerful to deduce processes that shaped cancer genome evolution. However, it is difficult to infer from retrospective analyses how phenotypic plasticity emerges and how it is propagated to subsequent cell generations. We are pursuing multidimensional cell imaging approaches to elucidate how genotoxic stresses such as DNA damage from ionizing radiation, activation of targeted endonucleases, oncogene-induced replication stress, and genotoxic stress induced by inhibitors of DNA damage and replication stress responses, affect genome maintenance at the single cell level and cellular heterogeneity at the cell population level. These include cell cycle-resolved high-throughput microscopy and, more recently,
multigenerational single cell tracking based on endogenously labeled markers of DNA replication and heritable DNA lesions. Besides analyzing replication and repair dynamics, damage inheritance, and emergence of sister cell heterogeneity across multiple cell generations, by combining multigenerational live cell imaging with targeted end-point measures, we study how common oncogenic events trigger multiple routes towards polyploidization with distinct outcomes for genome integrity.
Bio:
Prof. Matthias Altmeyer studied Biology with a focus on Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Konstanz, Germany. He earned his doctoral degree from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, through the Molecular Life Sciences PhD Program of the Life Science Zurich Graduate School, where he explored genome biology and PTM-regulated stress signaling. During his postdoctoral research in Copenhagen, Denmark, first at the Genome Integrity Unit of the Danish Cancer Society and later at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research at the University of Copenhagen, he investigated mechanisms of genome maintenance, supported by fellowships from EMBO and the Danish Research Council, as well as a Sapere Aude research talent grant. In 2014, he returned to the University of Zurich to establish his independent research group at the Department of Molecular Mechanisms of Disease, supported by an SNSF Professorship and an ERC Starting Grant. His current work centers on the spatial organization, dynamics, and cell cycle control of replication stress and DNA damage responses.
Zoom link (with one-time registration for the whole series) for attending remotely: https://go.epfl.ch/EPFLBioETalks
Instructions for 1st-year Ph.D. students planning to attend this talk, who are under EDBB’s mandatory seminar attendance rule:
IN CASE you cannot attend in-person in the room, please make sure to
Abstract:
Cellular heterogeneity is pervasive in nature yet insufficiently represented in ensemble behaviors of cell populations. Although biological processes affected by cell-to-cell variation are manifold, from developmental plasticity to tumor heterogeneity and differential drug responses, its sources remain largely unknown. Mutational and epigenetic signatures from cancer genomics are powerful to deduce processes that shaped cancer genome evolution. However, it is difficult to infer from retrospective analyses how phenotypic plasticity emerges and how it is propagated to subsequent cell generations. We are pursuing multidimensional cell imaging approaches to elucidate how genotoxic stresses such as DNA damage from ionizing radiation, activation of targeted endonucleases, oncogene-induced replication stress, and genotoxic stress induced by inhibitors of DNA damage and replication stress responses, affect genome maintenance at the single cell level and cellular heterogeneity at the cell population level. These include cell cycle-resolved high-throughput microscopy and, more recently,
multigenerational single cell tracking based on endogenously labeled markers of DNA replication and heritable DNA lesions. Besides analyzing replication and repair dynamics, damage inheritance, and emergence of sister cell heterogeneity across multiple cell generations, by combining multigenerational live cell imaging with targeted end-point measures, we study how common oncogenic events trigger multiple routes towards polyploidization with distinct outcomes for genome integrity.
Bio:
Prof. Matthias Altmeyer studied Biology with a focus on Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Konstanz, Germany. He earned his doctoral degree from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, through the Molecular Life Sciences PhD Program of the Life Science Zurich Graduate School, where he explored genome biology and PTM-regulated stress signaling. During his postdoctoral research in Copenhagen, Denmark, first at the Genome Integrity Unit of the Danish Cancer Society and later at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research at the University of Copenhagen, he investigated mechanisms of genome maintenance, supported by fellowships from EMBO and the Danish Research Council, as well as a Sapere Aude research talent grant. In 2014, he returned to the University of Zurich to establish his independent research group at the Department of Molecular Mechanisms of Disease, supported by an SNSF Professorship and an ERC Starting Grant. His current work centers on the spatial organization, dynamics, and cell cycle control of replication stress and DNA damage responses.
Zoom link (with one-time registration for the whole series) for attending remotely: https://go.epfl.ch/EPFLBioETalks
Instructions for 1st-year Ph.D. students planning to attend this talk, who are under EDBB’s mandatory seminar attendance rule:
IN CASE you cannot attend in-person in the room, please make sure to
- send D. Reinhard a note well ahead of time (ideally before seminar day), informing that you plan to attend the talk online, and, during seminar:
- be signed in on Zoom with a recognizable user name (not any alias making it difficult or impossible to identify you).
Practical information
- Informed public
- Registration required
Organizer
- Prof. Sahand Rahi, Institute of Physics & Institute of Bioengineering
Contact
- Institute of Bioengineering (IBI), Dietrich REINHARD