Epigenome Replication and Maintenance
The group has transferred from University of Copenhagen to Danish Cancer Institute March 1, 2025
Our research
The Groth group focuses on understanding how chromatin organization and function are preserved during mitotic cell division to maintain genome and epigenome stability—key processes disrupted in cancer. We aim to understand how epigenetic cell memory influences cell fate decisions, with a particular focus on how these mechanisms drive epigenetic changes that contribute to cancer progression and aging.
Our research addresses the major biological challenge of understanding how chromatin is replicated and passed on through cell division. This is crucial for deciphering how failures in these processes lead to cancer and other diseases. By identifying the molecular mechanisms that maintain both genome and epigenome stability, we aim to shed light on the fundamental processes underlying cancer development. To break new grounds in this field, our group employs a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach.
We have developed specialized genomics and proteomics tools such as ChOR-seq, SCAR-seq, Repli-ATAC, and NCC-SILAC to address chromatin replication and epigenome maintenance. We also apply structure-function studies, chromatin biochemistry, high content imaging and advanced genome editing to investigate chromatin's role in DNA repair, a critical process frequently compromised in cancer cells.
Our work has transformed the view of chromatin replication and its implication for epigenome and genome maintenance. We have discovered that the replication machinery itself manages histone-based information, directly linking genetic and epigenetic inheritance. Surprising, new histones provide a signature for cells to identify sister chromatids and direct error-free repair of DNA lesions through a novel type of histone readers. The group is actively pursuing translation of our basic research findings towards new and better cancer treatment.
Find us at Bluesky: @grothlab.bsky.social
Charlton SJ, Flury V, Kanoh Y, Genzor AV, Kollenstart L, Ao W, Brøgger P, Weisser MB, Adamus M, Alcaraz N, Delvaux de Fenffe CM, Mattiroli F, Montoya G, Masai H, Groth A, Thon G. The fork protection complex promotes parental histone recycling and epigenetic memory. Cell. 2024;187:5029-5047.e21
Flury V, Reverón-Gómez N, Alcaraz N, Stewart-Morgan KR, Wenger A, Klose RJ, Groth A. Recycling of modified H2A-H2B provides short-term memory of chromatin states. Cell. 2023;186:1050-1065.e19
Wenger A, Biran A, Alcaraz N, Redó-Riveiro A, Sell AC, Krautz R, Flury V, Reverón-Gómez N, Solis-Mezarino V, Völker-Albert M, Imhof A, Andersson R, Brickman JM, Groth A. Symmetric inheritance of parental histones governs epigenome maintenance and embryonic stem cell identity. Nature Genetics. 2023;55:1567-1578
Nakamura K, Saredi G, Becker JR, Foster BM, Nguyen NV, Beyer TE, Cesa LC, Faull PA, Lukauskas S, Frimurer T, Chapman JR, Bartke T, Groth A. H4K20me0 recognition by BRCA1-BARD1 directs homologous recombination to sister chromatids. Nature Cell Biology. 2019;21:311-318
Saredi G, Huang H, Hammond CM, Alabert C, Bekker-Jensen S, Forne I, Reverón-Gómez N, Foster BM, Mlejnkova L, Bartke T, Cejka P, Mailand N, Imhof A, Patel DJ, Groth A. H4K20me0 marks post-replicative chromatin and recruits the TONSL–MMS22L DNA repair complex. Nature. 2016;534: 714-718
Group leader: Anja Groth
Prof. Anja Groth leads a research group at the Danish Cancer Institute since 2025. Anja Groth received her PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Copenhagen in 2004. After the postdoctoral training at Institut Curie, Paris, focusing on histone dynamics during DNA replication, Anja Groth has established her research group at Biotech Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC) at University of Copenhagen in 2008. In 2020, Prof. Anja Groth became Research Director at Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research (CPR) at Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, heading a research program focused on epigenetic memory. From June 2025, she will lead DNRF-funded Center of Excellence EpiC at DCI.
Prof. Anja Groth has pioneered a new research area exploring how the mammalian genome in its structural and functional context of chromatin is copied to maintain cell identity and fate, which is fundamental to organismal development, disease avoidance and aging. As an internationally recognized leader in her field, she is advancing science through innovative interdisciplinary research and technology development, fostering highly collaborative inclusive research environment and creative space.
Prof. Anja Groth has received several prestigious awards, including the Heirloom Award for Women Scientist Leaders (2014), the Elite Research Prize by the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science (2018), Queen Margrethe II's Research Prize (2020), and Lundbeck Foundation Scientific Enrichment Prize (2022). She is an elected member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters and EMBO.
Prof. Groth is a co-founder of Ankrin Therapeutics, a drug discovery company aiming to develop new targeted cancer therapy based on her discovery of a new chromatin-linked DNA repair mechanism.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0577-1771
Staff
Contact information for all staff in ERM will appear later
Key funding
The Epigenome maintenance and replication group is among others funded by:
The European Research Council
Novo Nordisk Foundation
Danish Cancer Society
Independent Research Fund Denmark
The Lundbeck Foundation
The NEYE Foundation
The Danish National Research Foundation