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Axel Schumacher

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Axel Schumacher
Born (1969-06-14) June 14, 1969 (age 55)
Kreuztal, Germany
OccupationBiologist
WebsiteOfficial website Edit this at Wikidata

Axel Schumacher (born June 14, 1969), is a German epigenetics researcher. He invented the first microarray technologies for epigenetic biomarker discovery, developed the ‘epigenetic theory of aging’ with his research leading to the worldwide first proof of whole genome epigenetic abnormalities in Alzheimer's disease.

Alongside his work as a scientist he is a published author, a futurologist and as of July 2017, CEO and co-founder of the HLTH.network.

Early life and education

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Schumacher was born in Kreuztal, Germany in 1969. Schumacher was awarded with a PhD in biology from University of Cologne under the supervision of Robert Koch Prize [de] laureate Walter Doerfler [de] in 2002.

Career

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Epigenetics

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Schumacher started his career in epigenetics as a visiting researcher at the laboratory of Wolf Reik at the Babraham Institute near Cambridge, England working on DNA methylation and genomic imprinting.

During his career he made several breakthrough discoveries including, how genomic imprinting is regulated by DNA methylation,[1][2] the effect of in vitro manipulation on imprinted regions in the genome,[3] the first description of ‘epigenetic SNPs’,[4] the invention of single-cell epigenomics,[5] with his research leading to the world's first proof of whole genome epigenetic abnormalities in Alzheimer's disease,[6] indicating that the main predisposing factors for Alzheimer's disease, PSEN and APOE, have a high interindividual variation in humans, which could indicate they are prone to epigenetic abnormalities.

Schumacher invented the technology of ‘epigenetic microarrays’,[7] a technology that transformed the research field and led to hundreds of research discoveries across the world, including the first worldwide proof of whole genome epigenetic changes in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.[8]

In 2010, Schumacher proposed the ‘epigenetic theory of aging’ a new unifying model of aging and the development of complex diseases, incorporating classical aging theories and epigenetics.[9] His work on epigenetic drift and age-related epigenetic changes in mice and humans[10][11] laid the foundation to the epigenetic clock theory of aging.

Other work

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During the 1990s, Schumacher worked as comic book author and artist.[12] Among others he worked alongside famous artists such as Russian painter Oleg Yudin[13] on titles such as 'High Speed'[14] and on various stories for the American science fiction and fantasy comics magazine Heavy Metal.

References

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  1. ^ Schumacher, Axel; Buiting, Karin; Zeschnigk, Michael; Doerfler, Walter; Horsthemke, Bernhard (August 1998). "Methylation analysis of the PWS/AS region does not support an enhancer-competition model". Nature Genetics. 19 (4): 324–325. doi:10.1038/1211. ISSN 1546-1718. PMID 9697691. S2CID 28353445.
  2. ^ Schumacher, A.; Koetsier, P. A.; Hertz, J.; Doerfler, W. (2000-12-01). "Epigenetic and genotype-specific effects on the stability of de novo imposed methylation patterns in transgenic mice". The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 275 (48): 37915–37921. doi:10.1074/jbc.M004839200. ISSN 0021-9258. PMID 10954710.
  3. ^ Schumacher, Axel; Doerfler, Walter (2004). "Influence of in vitro manipulation on the stability of methylation patterns in the Snurf/Snrpn-imprinting region in mouse embryonic stem cells". Nucleic Acids Research. 32 (4): 1566–1576. doi:10.1093/nar/gkh322. ISSN 1362-4962. PMC 390307. PMID 15004243.
  4. ^ Schumacher, Axel; Friedrich, Patricia; Diehl-Schmid, Janine; Ibach, Bernd; Eisele, Tamara; Laws, Simon M.; Förstl, Hans; Kurz, Alexander; Riemenschneider, Matthias (November 2007). "No association of chromatin-modifying protein 2B with sporadic frontotemporal dementia". Neurobiology of Aging. 28 (11): 1789–1790. doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2006.07.016. ISSN 1558-1497. PMID 16979267. S2CID 30744877.
  5. ^ Kantlehner, Martin; Kirchner, Roland; Hartmann, Petra; Ellwart, Joachim W.; Alunni-Fabbroni, Marianna; Schumacher, Axel (April 2011). "A high-throughput DNA methylation analysis of a single cell". Nucleic Acids Research. 39 (7): e44. doi:10.1093/nar/gkq1357. ISSN 0305-1048. PMC 3074158. PMID 21266484.
  6. ^ Wang, Sun-Chong; Oelze, Beatrice; Schumacher, Axel (2008-07-16). "Age-specific epigenetic drift in late-onset Alzheimer's disease". PLOS ONE. 3 (7): e2698. Bibcode:2008PLoSO...3.2698W. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002698. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 2444024. PMID 18628954.
  7. ^ Schumacher, Axel; Kapranov, Philipp; Kaminsky, Zachary; Flanagan, James; Assadzadeh, Abbas; Yau, Patrick; Virtanen, Carl; Winegarden, Neil; Cheng, Jill; Gingeras, Thomas; Petronis, Arturas (2006). "Microarray-based DNA methylation profiling: technology and applications". Nucleic Acids Research. 34 (2): 528–542. doi:10.1093/nar/gkj461. ISSN 1362-4962. PMC 1345696. PMID 16428248.
  8. ^ Mill, Jonathan; Tang, Thomas; Kaminsky, Zachary; Khare, Tarang; Yazdanpanah, Simin; Bouchard, Luigi; Jia, Peixin; Assadzadeh, Abbas; Flanagan, James; Schumacher, Axel; Wang, Sun-Chong (March 2008). "Epigenomic profiling reveals DNA-methylation changes associated with major psychosis". American Journal of Human Genetics. 82 (3): 696–711. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.01.008. ISSN 1537-6605. PMC 2427301. PMID 18319075.
  9. ^ Schumacher, Axel (2010). Handbook of Epigenetics: The New Molecular and Medical Genetics. Academic. pp. 405–422. ISBN 978-0123757098.
  10. ^ Schumacher, Axel (Jan 2009). "An epigenetic clock: Anticorrelation & DNA methylation as biomarker for aging". ResearchGate.
  11. ^ Wang, Sun-Chong; Oelze, Beatrice; Schumacher, Axel (2008-07-16). "Age-specific epigenetic drift in late-onset Alzheimer's disease". PLOS ONE. 3 (7): e2698. Bibcode:2008PLoSO...3.2698W. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002698. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 2444024. PMID 18628954.
  12. ^ "Axel Schumacher". lambiek.net. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
  13. ^ "High Speed (2000) issue OGN SC vol. 01". comicbookcollect.com. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
  14. ^ "Oleg Yudin". lambiek.net. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
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