Professor Florian Hollfelder

  • Professor of Chemical and Synthetic Biology, Department of Biochemistry
Professor Florian Hollfelder

Connect

Research

The Hollfelder Group develops innovative enabling technologies that provide quantitative information to decode the molecular mechanisms of life with a range of interdisciplinary approaches. Droplet microfluidics are used as a platform technology to study single-cell transcriptomics, developmental cell biology and directed protein evolution.  By miniaturising the traditional test tube in micrometer-sized droplet compartments we can isolate single cells or defined ensembles of cells and create biomimetic 3D environments to mimick how (bio)physical constraints, cell-cell adhesion and chemical signalling encountered in vivo influence developmental trajectories and cell fate decisions during early mammalian development. This helps us to investigate governance of trajectories in early lineage segregation, transitions between naïve and primed states or epiblast and trophoblast specification. Finally we use the enormous screening capacity of droplet microfluidics to investigate the diversity of combinatorial protein libraries (of e.g. transcription factors) in triggering cell fate decisions and quantify the contributions of individual amino acids to bringing about functional changes. 

Publications

Selected publications

Deep generative embeddings of gene expression and splicing reposition the interpretation of single-cell transcriptomic signatures biorxiv Weberling, F.-M.; Ampartzidis, I.; Mohorianu, I.; Hollfelder, F. High-throughput total RNA sequencing in single cells using VASA-seq Nat Biotechnol Salmen, F.; De Jonghe, J.; Kaminski, T. S.; Alemany, A.; Parada, G. E.; Verity-Legg, J.; Yanagida, A.; Kohler, T. N.; Battich, N.; van den Brekel, F Plakoglobin is a mechanoresponsive regulator of naive pluripotency. Nat Commun Kohler, T. N.; De Jonghe, J.; Ellermann, A. L.; Yanagida, A.; Herger, M.; Slatery, E. M.; Weberling, A.; Munger, C.; Fischer, K.; Mulas, C.; et al. spinDrop: a droplet microfluidic platform to maximise single-cell sequencing information content Nat Commun De Jonghe, J.; Kaminski, T. S.; Morse, D. B.; Tabaka, M.; Ellermann, A. L.; Kohler, T. N.; Amadei, G.; Handford, C. E.; Findlay, G. M.; Zernicka-Goetz, M Rapid discovery of monoclonal antibodies by microfluidics-enabled FACS of single pathogen-specific antibody-secreting cells. Nat Biotechnol Fischer, K.; Lulla, A.; So, T. Y.; Pereyra-Gerber, P.; Raybould, M. I. J.; Kohler, T. N.; Yam-Puc, J. C.; Kaminski, T. S.; Hughes, R.; Pyeatt, G. L.; et al. Spatial profiling of early primate gastrulation in utero Nature Bergmann, S.; Penfold, C. A.; Slatery, E.; Siriwardena, D.; Drummer, C.; Clark, S.; Strawbridge, S. E.; Kishimoto, K.; Vickers, A.; Tewary, M.; et al. Epiblast lumenogenesis is not a mammalian-specific trait. Nat Commun Weberling, A.; Shylo, N. A.; Wilson, H.; McClain, M.; Kupronis, R.; Muensch, A.; Williams, S. A.; Hollfelder, F.; Trainor, P. A. Generation of liver mesenchyme and ductal cell organoid co-culture using cell self-aggregation and droplet microfluidics. STAR Protoc Dowbaj, A. M.; Kohler, T. N.; Cordero-Espinoza, L.; Hollfelder, F.; Huch, M. Embryo model completes gastrulation to neurulation and organogenesis Nature Amadei, G.; Handford, C. E.; Qiu, C.; De Jonghe, J.; Greenfeld, H.; Tran, M.; Martin, B. K.; Chen, D. Y.; Aguilera-Castrejon, A.; Hanna, J. H.; et al Microgel culture and spatial identity mapping elucidate the signalling requirements for primate epiblast and amnion formation. Development Munger, C.; Kohler, T. N.; Slatery, E.; Ellermann, A. L.; Bergmann, S.; Penfold, C. A.; Ampartzidis, I.; Chen, Y.; Hollfelder, F.; Boroviak, T. E.