Computational Biology

Platform News

Oct 15, 2025
Video: DNA rhythms orchestrate gene activity across development
Feb 26, 2025
Charting gene secrets: New insights into genetic switches

Resources

SIB Group Website
Software and data

Computational Biology

Exploiting bioinformatics approaches, tools and databases efficiently

In addition to heading the Computational Biology platform, Michael Stadler is an FMI staff scientist and pursues independent research within the institute and with external collaborators.

Modern biomedical research produces vast amounts of data, and the number of bioinformatics approaches and databases increases at a high rate. We collaborate with FMI scientists to exploit these tools efficiently. Our strongest expertise lies in the analysis and interpretation of high-throughput sequencing data such as data from (single cell) RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, Bis-seq and HiC experiments.

We also provide a bioinformatics help-desk and a computational infrastructure for biologists. Our aim is to train young researchers to become competent and independent. Therefore, we focus on providing solutions based on free and open-source software, allowing the scientists to continue their own bioinformatics research even after leaving the FMI.

We are members of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, and in collaboration with the Bioinformatics core of the Department of Biomedicine we teach courses and lectures at the University of Basel.

Tools and software

Contact
Michael Stadler: Platform head, computational biol & group leader

Komarov PA, Bammer PC, Liang CY, Hotz HR, Fanourgakis G, Chun S, Kohler H, Buchholz TO, Spetz JF, Peters AHFM (2026) The eutherian-specific histone H3.4 promotes germ cell development and reproductive fitness.

Nat Commun. 2026 Jun 5

Nuninger C, Papasaikas P, Weevers SL, Ferralli J, Smallwood S, Tsiairis CD (2026) Dynamic cell fate transitions during morphallactic regeneration.

Nat Commun. 2026 Jun 2

Ben Zouari Y, Joshi O, Salvi A, Kessler S, Ducret S, Ross F, Holwerda SJB, Vilain N, Mamilla-Sanivaram S, Smallwood S, Kohler H, Stadler MB, Minoux M, Rijli FM (2026) Polycomb chromatin topology enables long-range enhancer recruitment during craniofacial development.

Nat Commun. 2026 May 14

Nikolakopoulou K, Ybañez W, Klaeylé L, Frugoli L, Cindrova-Davies T, Hotz HR, Soneson C, Turco MY (2026) An in vitro menstrual cycle using organoids captures epithelial cell transitions during menstruation and regeneration of the human endometrium.

Cell Stem Cell. 2026 May 7;33(5):747-762.e8

Weiss J, Vecchia L, Domjan D, Cavadini S, Sabantsev A, Kempf G, Pathare GR, Brackmann K, Michael AK, Kater L, Hietter-Pfeiffer E, Haddawi M, Kuber UP, Mühlhäusser S, Grand RS, Stadler MB, Deindl S, Thomä NH (2026) The human BAF chromatin remodeler processes nucleosomes bound by pioneer transcription factors OCT4-SOX2.

Mol Cell. 2026 Feb 19;86(4):625-639.e8

Gaidatzis D, Graf-Landua M, Methot SP, Wölk M, Brancati G, Hauser YP, Meeuse MWM, Nahar S, Braun K, van der Does M, Aluri S, Kohler H, Smallwood S, Großhans H (2025) A scheduler for rhythmic gene expression.

Mol Syst Biol. 2025 Dec;21(12):1793-1821

Kawamura YK, Ozonov EA, Papasaikas P, Kondo T, Nguyen NV, Stadler MB, Smallwood SA, Koseki H, Peters AHFM (2025) Preventing CpG hypermethylation in oocytes safeguards mouse development.

Dev Cell. 2025 Dec 1;60(23):3285-3303.e9

Ferenc J, Bonvin M, Papasaikas P, Ferralli J, Nuninger C, Tsiairis CD (2025) A transcription factor toggle switch determines differentiated epidermal cell identities in Hydra.

Development. 2025 Sep 1;152(17)

Durdu S, Iskar M, Isbel L, Hoerner L, Wirbelauer C, Burger L, Hess D, Iesmantavicius V, Schübeler D (2025) Chromatin-dependent motif syntax defines differentiation trajectories.

Mol Cell. 2025 Aug 7;85(15):2900-2918.e16

Bocker MT, Fanourgakis G, Wetzel K, Komarov PA, Royo H, Rohmer A, Chun S, Liang CY, Kohler H, Chen T, Mao X, Labow MA, Valdez RA, Stadler MB, de Rooij DG, Capodieci P, Tallarico J, Peters AHFM, Nicholson TB (2025) The histone H3 lysine 36 demethylase KDM2A/FBXL11 controls Polycomb-mediated gene repression and germ cell development in male mice.

Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 23;16(1):6803

Skribbe M, Soneson C, Stadler MB, Schwaiger M, Suma Sreechakram VN, Iesmantavicius V, Hess D, Moreno EPF, Braun S, Seebacher J, Smallwood SA, Bühler M (2025) A comprehensive Schizosaccharomyces pombe atlas of physical transcription factor interactions with proteins and chromatin.

Mol Cell. 2025 Apr 3;85(7):1426-1444.e8

Fanourgakis G, Gaspa-Toneu L, Komarov PA, Papasaikas P, Ozonov EA, Smallwood SA, Peters AHFM (2025) DNA methylation modulates nucleosome retention in sperm and H3K4 methylation deposition in early mouse embryos.

Nat Commun. 2025 Jan 7;16(1):465

Williams TD, Michalak EM, Carey KT, Lam EYN, Anderson A, Griesbach E, Chan YC, Papasaikas P, Tan VWT, Ngo L, MacPherson L, Gilan O, Rucinski A, Rutkowska-Klute A, Zinn N, Grandi P, Bantscheff M, Prinjha RK, Dawson SJ, Chao JA, Wickramasinghe VO, Dawson MA (2025) mRNA export factors store nascent transcripts within nuclear speckles as an adaptive response to transient global inhibition of transcription.

Mol Cell. 2025 Jan 2;85(1):117-131.e7

Gudipati RK, Gaidatzis D, Seebacher J, Muehlhaeusser S, Kempf G, Cavadini S, Hess D, Soneson C, Großhans H (2024) Deep quantification of substrate turnover defines protease subsite cooperativity.

Mol Syst Biol. 2024 Dec;20(12):1303-1328

Shimada K, Tarashev CVD, Bregenhorn S, Gerhold CB, van Loon B, Roth G, Hurst V, Jiricny J, Helliwell SB, Gasser SM (2024) TORC2 inhibition triggers yeast chromosome fragmentation through mis regulated Base Excision Repair of clustered oxidation events.

Nat Commun. 2024 Nov 15;15(1):9908

Ohsawa S, Schwaiger M, Iesmantavicius V, Hashimoto R, Moriyama H, Matoba H, Hirai G, Sodeoka M, Hashimoto A, Matsuyama A, Yoshida M, Yashiroda Y, Bühler M (2024) Nitrogen signaling factor triggers a respiration-like gene expression program in fission yeast.

EMBO J. 2024 Oct;43(20):4604-4624

Grand RS, Pregnolato M, Baumgartner L, Hoerner L, Burger L, Schübeler D (2024) Genome access is transcription factor-specific and defined by nucleosome position.

Mol Cell. 2024 Sep 19;84(18):3455-3468.e6

Schwaiger M, Mohn F, Bühler M, Kaaij LJT (2024) guidedNOMe-seq quantifies chromatin states at single allele resolution for hundreds of custom regions in parallel.

BMC Genomics. 2024 Jul 29;25(1):732

Iurlaro M, Masoni F, Flyamer IM, Wirbelauer C, Iskar M, Burger L, Giorgetti L, Schübeler D (2024) Systematic assessment of ISWI subunits shows that NURF creates local accessibility for CTCF.

Nat Genet. 2024 Jun;56(6):1203-1212

Nahar S, Morales Moya LJ, Brunner J, Hendriks GJ, Towbin B, Hauser YP, Brancati G, Gaidatzis D, Großhans H (2024) Dynamics of miRNA accumulation during C. elegans larval development.

Nucleic Acids Res. 2024 May 22;52(9):5336-5355

Hochstoeger T, Papasaikas P, Piskadlo E, Chao JA (2024) Distinct roles of LARP1 and 4EBP1/2 in regulating translation and stability of 5'TOP mRNAs.

Sci Adv. 2024 Feb 16;10(7):eadi7830

Anneser L, Satou C, Hotz HR, Friedrich RW (2024) Molecular organization of neuronal cell types and neuromodulatory systems in the zebrafish telencephalon.

Curr Biol. 2024 Jan 22;34(2):298-312.e4

Hamelin B, Obradovic MMS, Sethi A, Kloc M, Münst S, Beisel C, Eschbach K, Kohler H, Soysal S, Vetter M, Weber WP, Stadler MB, Bentires-Alj M (2023) Single-cell Analysis Reveals Inter- and Intratumour Heterogeneity in Metastatic Breast Cancer.

J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 2023 Dec 8;28(1):26

Hadziselimovic F, Verkauskas G, Stadler MB (2023) Epigenetics, cryptorchidism, and infertility.

Basic Clin Androl. 2023 Sep 21;33(1):24

Charlotte Soneson , Vytautas Iesmantavicius, Daniel Hess, Michael B Stadler, Jan Seebacher (2023) einprot: flexible, easy-to-use, reproducible workflows for statistical analysis of quantitative proteomics data

Journal of Open Source Software, sept 2023 8(89), 5750

Welte T, Goulois A, Stadler MB, Hess D, Soneson C, Neagu A, Azzi C, Wisser MJ, Seebacher J, Schmidt I, Estoppey D, Nigsch F, Reece-Hoyes J, Hoepfner D, Großhans H (2023) Convergence of multiple RNA-silencing pathways on GW182/TNRC6.

Mol Cell. 2023 Jul 20;83(14):2478-2492.e8

Couto JP, Vulin M, Jehanno C, Coissieux MM, Hamelin B, Schmidt A, Ivanek R, Sethi A, Bräutigam K, Frei AL, Hager C, Manivannan M, Gómez-Miragaya J, Obradovic MM, Varga Z, Koelzer VH, Mertz KD, Bentires-Alj M (2023) Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase sustains a core epigenetic program that promotes metastatic colonization in breast cancer.

EMBO J. 2023 Jul 3;42(13):e112559

Isbel L, Iskar M, Durdu S, Weiss J, Grand RS, Hietter-Pfeiffer E, Kozicka Z, Michael AK, Burger L, Thomä NH, Schübeler D (2023) Readout of histone methylation by Trim24 locally restricts chromatin opening by p53.

Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2023 Jul;30(7):948-957

Amante RJ, Jehanno C, De Silva D, Coissieux MM, Ackerknecht M, Romanet V, Sethi A, Hamelin B, Preca BT, Piscuoglio S, Ng CKY, Mohseni M, Bentires-Alj M (2023) PI3K inhibition circumvents resistance to SHP2 blockade in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.

J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 2023 Jun 9;28(1):13

Kessler S, Minoux M, Joshi O, Ben Zouari Y, Ducret S, Ross F, Vilain N, Salvi A, Wolff J, Kohler H, Stadler MB, Rijli FM (2023) A multiple super-enhancer region establishes inter-TAD interactions and controls Hoxa function in cranial neural crest.

Nat Commun. 2023 Jun 5;14(1):3242

Full list of publications
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Members

Platform/Service Head

Biography

A Swiss native, Michael Stadler holds master’s degrees in Immunology and Bioinformatics from the Universities of Bern and Lausanne. He earned his PhD at the Insel Hospital in Bern, specializing in computational immunology, before pursuing postdoctoral research at MIT in Boston, USA, where he explored alternative splicing. In 2006, he joined the FMI to establish the Computational Biology Platform, and since 2011, he is also an SIB group leader. Outside of work, Michael enjoys hiking, snow sports, and immersing himself in science fiction novels and the music of the ’60s and ’70s.

Reseach

Michael applies computational methods to analyze and interpret high-throughput biological data. He also develops software tools for this purpose, and is particularly interested in studying gene expression using single-cell and single-molecule sequencing data.

Education

  • Postdoc in Computational Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
  • PhD in Immunology, University of Bern
  • MSc in Bioinformatics, University of Lausanne
  • MSc in Medical Microbiology, University of Bern


Technical/Research associates

In current position since 2009
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In current position since 2008
» Contact details

In current position since 2016
» Contact details

In current position since 2018
» Contact details

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Education

• PhD in Mathematics, Lund University
• MSc in Engineering Physics, Lund University


Alumni

External scientific collaborators

Anita Lerch (2011-2012, Bioinformatics specialist)

Postdoctoral fellows

Urszula Brykczynska Kunzmann (2019-2020, Postdoctoral fellow)
Sarah Carl (2015-2018, Postdoctoral fellow)
Atul Sethi (2015-2018, Postdoctoral fellow)
Dimosthenis Gaidatzis (2008-2009, Postdoctoral fellow)

Technical/Research associates

Tim Roloff (2016, Research associate in bioinformatics support)
Lukas Burger (2013-2015, Research associate, computational biology)
Christian Hundsrucker (2013-2014, Bioinformatics specialist)
Lukas Burger (2010-2013, Technical/Research associate)
Michael Rebhan (2005-2008, Head bioinformatics support)
Michael Stadler (2006-2007, Senior computational biologist)

Undergraduates

Maria Florescu (2013-2014, Undergraduate)
Jonathan Rameseder (2007, Undergraduate)
Matthias Haimel (2005-2006, Undergraduate)

Visiting scientists

Atul Sethi (2018-2021, Visiting scientist)
Megumi Onishi-Seebacher (2018, Visiting scientist)

Biography of Michael Stadler

Education

2004
PhD, Institute of Immunology, University of Berne, Switzerland
2001
MSc, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Universities of Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland
1999
MSc, Institute of Immunology, University of Berne, Switzerland

Positions held

2015-
Staff Scientist, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland
2011-
Group leader, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), Switzerland
2006-
Head of Computational Biology, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland
2004-2006
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA
2003-2004
Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Immunology, University of Berne, Switzerland

Honors

2015-2018
SystemsX.ch/Breast Cancer MetastasiX (co-PI)
2011-2014
SystemsX.ch/Sybit Fellowship (PI)
2010-2014
SystemsX.ch/Cell Plasticity (associate member)
2004
SNF Fellowship for Prospective Researchers
2003
DC Bank prize for research and development, Berne, Switzerland