Daniel Andergassen: Stability of the inactive X chromosome during aging and its implications for sex-biased disease

Speaker: Daniel Andergassen, TU Munich

Title: Stability of the inactive X chromosome during aging and its implications for sex-biased disease

Abstract

The inactive X chromosome is a classic example of epigenetic gene regulation and is generally considered to be in a stably silenced state. However, whether X-chromosome inactivation remains fully maintained throughout life and how its stability influences aging and disease remains unclear. In this lecture, I will present recent work from our laboratory using allele-specific genomic approaches to study the inactive X chromosome across tissues and cell types during aging. Our findings reveal that aging promotes partial reactivation of the inactive X in a tissue-specific manner, leading to higher expression of disease-associated X-linked genes in females, thereby revealing a novel epigenetic mechanism that may help explain age-related sex differences in disease.

Read more about his research here.

Bio

Professor Daniel Andergassen bridges computational and experimental sciences to understand how the non-coding genome and sex chromosomes contribute to sex differences in disease. His lab focuses particularly on genes that escape female X chromosome inactivation, leading to higher gene dosage in females (XX) compared to males (XY). Combining sequencing technologies with genetic and disease models, his research aims to identify sex-specific regulatory mechanisms and develop RNA-based therapies for sex-specific treatment. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Vienna at CeMM, where he developed tools to map and study allele-specific expression. As a postdoc at Harvard, he combined in vivo CRISPR with computational approaches to study the structure and epigenetic regulation of the inactive X chromosome. He later established a research group at TUM, where his lab discovered that aging promotes reactivation of the inactive X, revealing a novel epigenetic mechanism that may help explain age-related sex differences in disease. In 2026, he became W2 Professor of RNA Pharmacology and Gene Regulation.

Next speaker in the series:

11.09.2026 Hongkui Zeng (Allen Institute for Brain Science, Seattle, WA, USA)