Dr. Michael Ziller
Main Focus
Genomics of Complex Diseases
At the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry since January 2016, my group intends to develop system genomic approaches in order to analyze the genetic and epigenetic architecture of complex (disease) phenotypes by using in vitro differentiation models of human pluripotent cells. The research focuses on the question: how many genetic and environmental risk factors act in concert to create a permissive molecular environment that fosters the emergence of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia? The hypothesis behind this, is that the pathology of schizophrenia is driven by the interplay of many genetic variants disrupting numerous gene regulating elements (GREs) in neuronal cell populations.