Judith Zaugg

Judith Zaugg is a Group Leader at European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (MMPU). Judith did her PhD at EMBL-EBI and Cambridge University, where she uncovered several non-canonical gene regulatory mechanisms in yeast by integrating different omics data sets. Later, as a postdoc at Stanford, she started studying variability of regulatory mechanisms across individuals, and linking them to individuals’ genetic variation. She published landmark studies that established a genetic basis of epigenetic markers, and exemplified the importance of enhancers in disease mechanisms. Now she leads a research group at EMBL working on genetic determinants of expression variation. They develop computational tools and approaches to integrate multiomics data to study regulatory mechanisms, with the aim of better understanding the molecular basis of complex hereditary traits and genetic diseases, particularly focusing on neurodegenerative and hematopoietic diseases.