Michael Speicher
Projects within the DK-MCD
Analysis of plasma DNA using whole-genome sequencing in patients with prostate cancer |
Jelena Belić graduated |
Characterization of circulating tumor cells with stem cell features from patients with breast cancer |
Maryam Heidary graduated |
Analysis of circulating cell-free tumor DNA in plasma of colon cancer patients |
Sumitra Mohan graduated |
Research interest
Our special focus is on constitutional and acquired chromosomal and genomic alterations and their impact on disease susceptibility. Especially, the group is interested in somatic genome variability. Some recent publications suggested that genomes may vary considerably from one cell to another but to date detailed data are lacking. Therefore, the consequences of such genomic cell-to-cell variability on gene function and metabolic pathways have not been studied in detail yet. To this end M. Speicher’s group develops sophisticated technologies for the high-resolution analysis of the genome and the transcriptome of single or a few cells, enabling to study genomic instability occurring in both malignant diseases and aging and their consequences with unprecedented resolution. Recent data in the science of aging suggest that longevity, in addition to environmental factors, is to a large extent influenced by genetic factors. Such genetic factors can be constitutional, i.e. present in the genome of each cell, or acquired and therefore limited to certain fractions of cells as mosaicism. During aging somatic mosaicism may increase and reduce the function of organs. We can address such questions employing our genome-wide scans and sophisticated technologies for single cell/small cell number analyses. Together with functional studies these genome-wide analyses will clarify the impact of genetic changes on metabolic processes during aging and in pre-cancerous lesions.
Curriculum vitae
1980 - 1985 | University education in Computer Science, University of Dortmund, Germany | |
1981 - 1988 | University education in Medicine, University of Essen, Germany | |
1988 | Medical Doctoral Thesis; American Medical Examination, Basic and Clinical Sciences | |
1988 - 1990 | Resident physician, Department of Internal Medicine at the Westdeutsche Tumorzentrum, University Hospital of the University of Essen, Germany | |
1991 - 1994 | PostDoc, Department of Human Genetics, University of Heidelberg, Germany | |
1994 - 1996 | PostDoc, Department of Human Genetics, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, USA | |
1996 - 2001 | Group leader and Head of the FISH technology laboratory at the Institute of Anthropology and Human Genetics at the Ludwig-Maximillians University, Munich, Germany | |
2000 | Habilitation, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany; Specialist in Medical and Clinical Genetics | |
2001 - 2005 | Vice Director of the Institute of Human Genetics and Head of the FISH Technology Laboratory and Routine Cytogenetic Laboratory, Technical University Munich, Germany | |
2006 - | Full Professor and Chairman of the Institute of Human Genetics, Medical University of Graz | |