Asifa Akhtar

Asifa Akhtar is a Senior Group Leader and Director at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics. Her research focuses on chromatin regulation mechanisms, particularly studying how structural changes in chromatin influence gene expression and dosage compensation in organisms like Drosophila and humans. Her team investigates the role of histone modifications (especially H4 acetylation) and non-coding RNAs in these processes.

Research Interests: Dr. Akhtar's work explores: 1) Evolutionary mechanisms of X-chromosome dosage compensation, 2) Biochemical functions of the MSL complex and MOF histone acetyltransferase, 3) Chromatin restructuring during gene activation, and 4) Nuclear architecture stability through lamin acetylation. Her interdisciplinary approach combines genomics, biochemistry, and bioinformatics.

Publication Trends: Recent articles demonstrate strong focus on epigenetic regulation of X-chromosomes (2021), metabolic impacts of chromatin regulators (2020), transgenerational epigenetic inheritance (2020), nuclear architecture (2019), and genetic disorders linked to epigenetic machinery (2018).

Team: Leads a research group at MPI-IE with administrative support from Larissa Rell and Dr. Mirka Honkanen.