Active Motif's Podcast

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we talked with Ferdinand von Meyenn from ETH Zürich about his work on the interplay of nutrition, metabolic pathways, and epigenetic regulation. To start Dr. Meyenn recounts his pivotal research on DNA methylation in naive embryonic stem cells during his time with Wolf Reick. He explains the dynamics of global demethylation in naive stem cells, revealing the key enzymes involved and the unexpected findings surrounding UHF1—its role in maintaining DNA methylation levels and influencing the methylation landscape during early embryonic development. Dr. Meyenn then shares his perspective on the scientific transition to establishing his own lab at ETH. He reflects on his ambitions to merge the fields of metabolism and epigenetics, which is a recurring theme throughout his research. By investigating the interplay between metabolic changes and epigenetic regulation, he aims to uncover how environmental factors affect cellular dynamics across various tissues. This leads to