Arne Sahm

Arne Sahm serves as Junior Research Group Leader for Computational Phenomics at the Leibniz Institute for Environmental Medical Research (IUF) in Düsseldorf, Germany. His work bridges environmental toxicology, aging biology, and computational genomics through innovative multi-omics approaches applied to exceptional animal models.

Dr. Sahm's research centers on deciphering molecular aging mechanisms triggered by environmental toxins (particles, radiation, chemicals) using alternative models like naked mole rats, killifish, and Hydra. He specializes in comparative epigenomics and transcriptomics to identify stress-adaptation pathways, with particular focus on persistent epigenetic alterations that accelerate aging beyond exposure periods. His group develops specialized bioinformatics pipelines for evolutionary genomics and epigenomic clock analysis.

Recent publications demonstrate consistent application of multi-omics to non-traditional models, revealing evolutionary adaptations to extreme environments (e.g., CO₂ tolerance in mole rats) and fundamental aging mechanisms in non-aging species. This work establishes critical links between environmental stressors, epigenetic dysregulation, and disease pathways.

Dr. Sahm mentors postdoc Hequn Liu and Master's students Katarzyna Wojcik and Kevin-Markus Zelosko. His current Leibniz Research Alliance-funded project investigates epigenetic aging signatures from chronic CO₂ exposure in naked mole rats using integrated RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, and RRBS analyses.

The Computational Phenomics group maintains active collaborations with Leibniz-IZW (Berlin), Leibniz-FLI (Jena), University of Duisburg-Essen, and Scuola Normale Superiore (Pisa), combining zoological expertise with advanced bioinformatics to study environmental impacts on aging across diverse species.