Julia Tischler

École Polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

To date, Dr. Tischler’s research record reflects her long-standing interest in embryonic development and the intricate molecular mechanisms underlying cellular decision-making and cell fate specification, stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, and the development of enabling technologies for basic and applied biosciences. She first discovered her passion for developmental biology and medicine during the final year of her undergraduate research project in the laboratory of Professor Christian Seiser at the Vienna Biocenter, Vienna, Austria, where she contributed to uncovering the molecular basis underlying the essential function of the key chromatin-modifying enzyme, histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1), during mouse embryogenesis. Aspiring to complement the detailed description of the role of a single gene with more comprehensive investigations on gene functions during organismal development, she examined the evolution and conservation of genetic interactions in an animal, using the nematode C. elegans as a model system, as a graduate student under the guidance of Professor Andrew Fraser at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute via the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. Her keen interest in the evolution and function of complex gene networks tempted her to gain deeper insight into genetic regulatory circuits, particularly the molecular mechanism that controls stem cell self-renewal and cell fate specification. Hence, a central theme of her Postdoctoral research in the laboratories of Professor Michael Elowitz at California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA, and Professor Azim Surani at the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, has been the detailed investigation of individual stem cell states through quantitative single-cell analyses, and the modulation of cellular states through genetic and metabolic control. Currently, she is a Postdoctoral researcher in Professor Sebastian Maerkl’s laboratory at the Institute of Bioengineering of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland, which she joined as a Marie Heim-Vögtlin (Swiss National Science Foundation) Fellow to gain proficiency in the design and the engineering of state-of-the-art microfluidic devices for applications in stem cell and developmental biology, and personalized diagnostics, and to establish my independent, multidisciplinary research program.