Schumacher Group

Prof. Dr. Björn Schumacher

Björn Schumacher directs the Institute for Genome Stability in Aging and Disease at the Medical Faculty of the University of Cologne. Schumacher is an expert on C. elegans genetics and biochemistry. He has discovered the p53 homolog in C. elegans, CEP-1, and characterized its role in germ cell quality control. His lab established conserved DNA damage response mechanisms that are exerted through longevity assurance mechanisms in C. elegans and mammals, and discovered germline DNA damage-induced systemic stress resistance (GDISR) that impacts reproductive aging. The Schumacher group has identified regulatory mechanisms of germ cell death, epigenetic regulators of genome stability, and discovered mechanisms of somatic control of the CEP-1/p53 mediated DNA damage response in germ cells. Schumacher is leader in the field of genome stability and has made major contributions to the understanding of organismal responses to DNA damage.

Link to group page:

https://schumacher.cecad-labs.uni-koeln.de

Publications

  • Soltanmohammadi N, Wang S, Schumacher B. Somatic PMK-1/p38 signaling links environmental stress to germ cell apoptosis and heritable euploidy. Nat Commun. 2022 Feb 4;13(1):701. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-28225-8.

  • Schumacher B, Pothof J, Vijg J, Hoeijmakers JHJ. The central role of DNA damage in the ageing process. Nature. 2021 Apr;592(7856):695-703. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03307-7.

  • Meyer DH, Schumacher B. BiT age: A transcriptome-based aging clock near the theoretical limit of accuracy. Aging Cell. 2021 Mar 3; 20(3):e13320. doi: 10.1111/acel.13320. Epub 2021 Mar 3.

  • Wang S, Meyer DH, Schumacher, B. H3K4me2 regulates the recovery of protein biosynthesis and homeostasis following DNA damage. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2020 Dec;27(12):1165-1177. doi: 10.1038/s41594-020-00513-1. Epub 2020 Oct 12.

  • Lopes AFC, Bozek K, Herholz M, Trifunovic A, Rieckher M, Schumacher B. A C. elegans model for neurodegeneration in Cockayne syndrome. Nucleic Acids Res. 2020 Nov 4;48(19):10973-10985. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkaa795.

  • Ou HL, Kim CS, Uszkoreit S, Wickström SA, Schumacher B. Somatic niche cells regulate the CEP-1/p53-mediated DNA damage response in primordial germ cells. Dev Cell. 2019 Jul 22;50(2):167-183.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2019.06.012

  • Mueller M*, Castells-Roca L*, Babu V, Ermolaeva MA, Müller RU, Frommolt P, Williams AB, Greiss S, Schneider JI, Benzing T, Schermer B, Schumacher B. DAF-16/FoxO and EGL-27/GATA promote developmental growth in response to persistent somatic DNA damage. Nat Cell Biol. 2014 Nov 24:16(12):1168–1179. doi: 10.1038/ncb3071 (*equal contribution)

  • Ermolaeva MA, Segref A, Dakhovnik A, Ou HL, Schneider JI, Utermöhlen O, Hoppe T, Schumacher B. DNA damage in germ cells induces an innate immune response that triggers systemic stress resistance. Nature. 2013 Sep 19;501(7467):416-20. doi: 10.1038/nature12452

  • Garinis GA, Uittenboogaard LM, Stachelscheid H, Fousteri M, van Ijcken W, Breit TM, van Steeg H, Mullenders LHF, van der Horst GTJ, Brüning JC, Niessen CM, Hoeijmakers JHJ and Schumacher B. Persistent transcription-blocking DNA lesions trigger somatic growth attenuation associated with longevity. Nat Cell Biol. 2009 May;11(5):604-15.

  • Schumacher B, Hanazawa M, Lee M, Nayak S, Volkmann K,  Hofmann R, Hengartner M, Schedl T, Gartner A. Translational Repression of C. elegans p53 by GLD-1 regulates DNA damage induced apoptosis. Cell, 11 February 2005; 120: 357-368.