Wolf Reik obtained his MD from the University of Hamburg. He did his thesis
work with Rudolf Jaenisch, and postdoctoral work with Azim Surani in
Cambridge. He became a Fellow of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine at
Cambridge and subsequently the Head of the Epigenetics Programme at the
Babraham Institute in Cambridge and was until 2022 its Director. He is honorary
Professor of Epigenetics at the University of Cambridge and an honorary Group
Leader at the Babraham Institute. He was Associate Faculty at the Sanger
Institute, where he was a founding member of the Centre for Single Cell
Genomics, Affiliate Faculty at the Stem Cell Institute, and a member of the
Centre for Trophoblast Research. He is a member of EMBO, Fellow of the
Academy of Medical Sciences, Fellow of the Royal Society, and a member of the
Academia Europaea. He was the founding Director of the Altos Labs Cambridge
Institute of Science from 2022 to 2026 and is currently a Distinguished
Investigator at Altos Labs.
The research interests of his team are in epigenetics, particularly epigenetic
reprogramming and its role in development and ageing. Their current work
addresses the epigenetic regulation of cell fate decisions, how the epigenome
ages potentially in a programmed fashion, and how insights into epigenetic
reprogramming can help with rejuvenation of cells, tissues, and organisms in
order to reverse disease. The team also develops new epigenomics technologies
especially single cell multi-omics.
In partnership with
