Dr. Zaugg leads a cross-disciplinary research group at EMBL since 2014, exploring how genetics, epigenetics, and environmental signals integrate to shape gene regulatory programs underlying complex human traits and diseases. She earned her PhD in computational functional genomics from EMBL-EBI and Cambridge University (2011), followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University (2012–2014), where she studied regulatory variation across healthy individuals.
Her group combines single-cell multi-omics (RNA/ATAC), spatial profiling (SUM‑seq), and computational modeling tools (e.g., diffTF, GRaNIE, GRaNPA, deePiCt) to unravel cell type-specific regulatory networks, with a special interest in hematopoietic stem cell niches and immune cell microenvironments. Dr. Zaugg also holds a role in the EMBL–Heidelberg University MMPU, with a research theme on stem cell–niche networks in aging and disease.
Her work is supported by an ERC Consolidator Grant and involves contributions to precision medicine through deep molecular profiling and computational genomics. Beyond research, she serves on multiple advisory boards and champions strategies to link regulatory genomics with clinical applications
Contact
Prof. Dr. Judith B. Zaugg, PhD
Group Leader – Systems (Epi)genetics & Gene Regulation
European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg
Joint appointment: EMBL-EBI & EMBL Genome Biology Unit
Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (EMBL–Heidelberg University)
Email: judith.zaugg@embl.de