The Schiessel group has a background in theoretical biological physics and soft matter physics. The group uses both analytical methods from statistical and classical mechanics and coarse-grained computer simulations. The main focus is on processes that take place in the cell nucleus, mainly related to DNA and chromatin. Key research topics include active chromosome remodeling^1,2, nuclesome dynamics³, multiplexing of information in genomes^4,5, and the material properties of microdroplets⁶. Recently, in collaboration with the Sommer group, we proposed a generic mechanism based on condensates that allows cells to inherit epigenetic information across multiple cell generations⁷.

References:

1. Schiessel et al. Pioneer transcription factors in chromatin remodeling: The kinetic proofreading view. Phys Rev E. 2020;101(4):040401. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.101.040401
2. Klempahn et al. Molecular motor in a box: Attractors, repellers, and ratchets in chromatin. Phys Rev Res. 2024;6(2):023236. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.023236
3. van Deelen et al. Ensembles of Breathing Nucleosomes: A Computational Study. Biophys J. 2020;118(9):2297-2308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2019.11.3395
4. Yadav et al. The role of transcript regions and amino acid choice in nucleosome positioning. NAR Genomics Bioinforma. 2023;5(3):lqad080. https://doi.org/10.1093/nargab/lqad080
5. Eslami-Mossallam et al. Multiplexing Genetic and Nucleosome Positioning Codes: A Computational Approach. PLOS ONE. 2016;11(6):e0156905. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156905
6. Nishio et al. Coalescence of liquid or gel-like DNA-encapsulating microdroplets. J Chem Phys. 2024;161(13):134904. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0223951
7. Sommer et al. Polymer-Assisted Condensation: A Mechanism for Hetero-Chromatin Formation and Epigenetic Memory. Macromolecules. 2022;55:4841-4851. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.2c00244