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Contact
| Lab: | Dr. Asifa Akhtar |
| Department: | Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics |
| Address: | Stübeweg 51 79108 Freiburg |
| Phone: | 0049 761 5108 565 |
| E-mail: | This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |
| Lab homepage: | www1.ie-freiburg.mpg.de/akhtar |
| BIOSS Excellence Cluster: | Member |
| PhD positions available: | YES |
| Research Area: | Protein Structure and Function |
| Research Interests: | Chromatin and epigenetic regulation |
CV
| Education & Training: | 1997 PhD in Molecular Biology at Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London, UK 1993 BSc in Biology at University College London (UCL), London, UK |
| Employment & Experience: | 1990-1993: Undergraduate Student, University College London (UCL) 1993-1997: PhD Student, Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF), London 1997-1999: Postdoctoral Research Scientist, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg 1999-2001: Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Adolf-Butenandt Institut, Molekularbiologie, Munich 2001- 2009: Group Leader, EMBL, Gene Expression Program, Heidelberg 2009-2013: Max Planck Investigator, Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg since April 2013: Director, Department of Chromatin Regulation, Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg since January 2015: Managing Director, Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg |
| Scientific Activities: | 2002-2009 Member of EMBL Graduate Student committee and EICAT committee 2002-2009 Member of EMBL monoclonal antibody user committee 2004-2009 Board member and elected representative of the Newly Established Teams (NET) in the EU FP6 funded “Epigenome” Network of Excellence 2005 Evaluator for the EU FP6 program 2006 Guest Editor: Special issue of Chromosome Research 2006 - Editor; PLoS Genetics 2006-2009 Member of EMBL Standing Advisory Committee 2007 Editorial Advisory board member; Chromosome Research 2007 Member of INSERM expert base 2007 Editorial board member; Targeted protein database ‘Epigenetic Regulators”. 2009- Member of the postdoctoral program evaluation panel, CRG, Barcelona 2009- Member and vice spokesman of the IMPRS graduate committee 2009 Evaluator for EU FP7 program 2010 Evaluator for the DFG 2011-2012 Guest Editor; Current Opionion in Cell Biology 2010-2015 Co-coordinator of the EU FP7 funded Network of Excellence „EpiGeneSys“ 2012-present Co-speaker and board member for DFG-SFB992 2012 Section Editor „Current Opinions in Cell Biology“ for the 2012 issue 2012 Reviewer for EU funded EPIGEN project 2012-present Member of the Board of Reviewing Editors (BRE) „elife“ 2013 Search committee W1 professorship BIOSS Freiburg 2013-present Eight core (search) commissions for Max Planck directors 2014 AERES evaluation of IGH Montpellier, France 2015 MRC Clinical Sciences Center Review, London, UK |
Honors
| Honors and Awards: | 1993: LILIAN CLARKE PRIZE (UCL) |
Publications
| Selected Publications: | Quinn JJ, Zhang QC, Georgiev P, Ilik IA, Akhtar A and Chang HY. (2016) Rapid evolutionary turnover underlies conserved lncRNA–genome interactions. Genes & Development 30, 191-207. Abstract Keller CI and Akhtar A. (2015). The MSL complex: juggling RNA-protein interactions for dosage compensation and beyond. Current Opinion in Genetics & Development 31, 1-11. Abstract Meunier S, Shvedunova M, Van Nhuong N, Avila L, Vernos I and Akhtar A. (2015). An epigenetic regulator emerges as microtubule minus-end binding and stabilizing factor in mitosis. Nature Communications 6, 7889 doi:10.1038/ncomms8889. Abstract Sheikh BN, Bechtel-Walz W, Lucci J, Karpiuk O, Hild I, Hartleben B, Vornweg J, Diehl S, Levit E, Hobeika E, Stehle T, Voss AK, Thomas T, Reth M, Manke T, Huber TB and Akhtar A. (2015). MOF maintains Transcriptional Programs regulating Cellular Stress Response. Oncogene 00, 1-13. Abstract Ramirez F, Lingg T, Toscano S, Lam KC, Georgiev P, Chung HR. Lajoie B, de Wit E, Zhan Y, de Laat W, Dekker J, Manke T and Akhtar A. (2015). High-affinity sites form an interaction network to facilitate spreading of the MSL complex across the X chromosome in Drosophila. Molecular Cell 60, 146-162. Abstract Chelmicki T, Dündar F, Turley M, Khanam T, Aktas T, Ramírez F, Gendrel AV, Heard E, Manke T, Akhtar A (2014) MOF-associated complexes ensure stem cell identity and Xist repression. eLife 2014; 10.7554/eLife.02024). Abstract Dias J*, Van Nguyen N*, Georgiev P, Gaub A, Brettschneider J, Cusack S, Kadlec J and Akhtar A (2014). Structural analysis of the KANSL1/WDR5/KANSL2 complex reveals that WDR5 is required for efficient assembly and chromatin targeting of the NSL complex. Genes Dev. 28, 929-942. Abstract Ilik I, Quinn JJ, Georgiev P, Tavares-Cadete F, Maticzka, Toscano S, Wan Y, Spitale RC, Luscombe NM, Backofen R, Change HY, Akhtar A (2013) Tandem stem loops in roX RNAs act together to mediate X chromosome dosage compensation in Drosophila. Molecular Cell 51, 156-173. Abstract Hallacli E, Lipp M, Georgiev P, Spielman C, Cusack S, Akhtar A, and Kadlec J. (2012) Msl1-Mediated Dimerization of the Dosage Compensation Complex Is Essential for Male X-Chromosome Regulation in Drosophila. Molecular Cell 48, 587-600 *co-corresponding authors. Abstract Conrad T and Akhtar A (2012) Dosage compensation in Drosophila: epigenetic fine-tuning of chromosome-wide transcription. Nat Rev Genet. 13, 123-134. Abstract |
SGBM PhD students
| SGBM PhD students: | Alumnus: |
