Research interests

My work focuses on:

• How do small chemical changes in chromatin control cell-type-specific gene regulation?
• How do diseases exploit or disrupt epigenetic mechanisms?

I study these questions using chemical biology approaches, pooled genetic screens, and integrated analysis of multi-omics data, connecting molecular features to regulatory outcomes and potential therapeutic vulnerabilities.

Current research

I study how cancer-associated mutations in histone proteins disrupt nucleosome function. In healthy tissue, histone proteins form protein–DNA complexes, the nucleosomes, that govern access to the underlying genetic information. Although there are roughly 16 million nucleosomes for every copy of the human genome, there are only a few dozen per gene which can be enzymatically modified to signal different gene activity states. Defective nucleosomes can cause aberrant gene expression or silencing, promoting hallmark cancer phenotypes such as unrestrained proliferation, migration, and invasion.

A key challenge is distinguishing innocuous from detrimental histone mutations. To address this, I create and screen libraries of cancer-associated histones in cells, use chemical synthesis to reconstitute defined nucleosome substrates, and integrate screening data with structural and clinical information to identify functionally meaningful patterns.

Publications

Preprints

• L. Engelhard*; D. Schiller*; M. S. Zambrano-Mila; K. Keliuotyte; B. Buchmuller; S. Tiwari; J. Imig; A. Simeone; C. Schröter; S. Becker; D. Summerer.

  HM-DyadCap – Capture and Mapping of 5-Hydroxymethylcytosine/5-Methylcytosine CpG Dyads in Mammalian DNA.

  bioRxiv 2025. doi:10.1101/2025.10.29.685270 DOI
  DNA ModificationsGenomics

Original Research

• B. Kosel; K. Bigler; B. C. Buchmuller; S. R. Acharyya; R. Linser; D. Summerer.

  Evolved Readers of 5‐Carboxylcytosine CpG Dyads Reveal a High Versatility of the Methyl‐CpG‐Binding Domain for Recognition of Noncanonical Epigenetic Marks.

  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024, 63(17), e202318837. doi:10.1002/anie.202318837 DOI PMID:38284298 PMID
  DNA Modifications
• H. Singh; C. K. Das; B. C. Buchmuller; L. V. Schäfer; D. Summerer; R. Linser.

  Epigenetic CpG duplex marks probed by an evolved DNA reader via a well-tempered conformational plasticity.

  Nucleic Acids Res. 2023, 51(12), 6495–6506. doi:10.1093/nar/gkad134 DOI PMID:36919612 PMID PMC10325892 PMC
  DNA ModificationsProtein Binding
• J. Nowacki; M. Malenica; S. Schmeing; D. Schiller; B. Buchmuller; G. Amrahova; P. ‘t Hart.

  A translational repression reporter assay for the analysis of RNA-binding protein consensus sites.

  RNA Biol. 2023, 20(1), 85–94. doi:10.1080/15476286.2023.2192553 DOI PMID:36946649 PMID PMC10038052 PMC
  RNA Translation
• A. Jung; A. Munõz-López; B. C. Buchmuller; S. Banerjee; D. Summerer.

  Imaging-Based In Situ Analysis of 5‑Methylcytosine at Low Repetitive Single Gene Loci with Transcription-Activator-Like Effector Probes.

  ACS Chem. Biol. 2023, 18(2), 230–236. doi:10.1021/acschembio.2c00857 DOI PMID:36693632 PMID PMC9942090 PMC
  DNA ModificationsImagingMethods
• S. Palei; J. Weisner; M. Vogt; R. Gontla; B. Buchmuller; C. Ehrt; T. Grabe; S. Kleinbölting; M. Müller; G. H. Clever; D. Rauh; D. Summerer.

  A high-throughput effector screen identifies a novel small molecule scaffold for inhibition of ten-eleven translocation dioxygenase 2.

  RSC Med. Chem. 2022, 13(12), 1540–1548. doi:10.1039/d2md00186a DOI PMID:36545435 PMID PMC9749932 PMC
  DNA ModificationsMedicinal Chemistry
• B. C. Buchmuller; J. Dröden; H. Singh; S. Palei; M. Drescher; R. Linser; D. Summerer.

  Evolved DNA Duplex Readers for Strand-Asymmetrically Modified 5‑Hydroxymethylcytosine/5-Methylcytosine CpG Dyads.

  JACS 2022, 144(7), 2987–2993. doi:10.1021/jacs.1c10678 DOI PMID:35157801 PMID PMC8874921 PMC
  DNA ModificationsProtein Engineering
  Impact: First affinity probes enabling selective enrichment of strand-asymmetric epigenetic DNA marks from genomic DNA
• Á. Muñoz‐López; A. Jung; B. Buchmuller; J. Wolffgramm; S. Maurer; A. Witte; D. Summerer.

  Engineered TALE Repeats for Enhanced Imaging‐Based Analysis of Cellular 5‐Methylcytosine.

  ChemBioChem 2021, 22(4), 645–651. doi:10.1002/cbic.202000563 DOI PMID:32991020 PMID PMC7894354 PMC
  DNA ModificationsImagingMethods
• J. Wolffgramm; B. Buchmuller; S. Palei; Á. Muñoz‐López; J. Kanne; P. Janning; M. R. Schweiger; D. Summerer.

  Light‐Activation of DNA‐Methyltransferases.

  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60(24), 13507–13512. doi:10.1002/anie.202103945 DOI PMID:33826797 PMID PMC8251764 PMC
  Chemical BiologyDNA ModificationsMethods
• S. Palei; B. Buchmuller; J. Wolffgramm; A. Muñoz-Lopez; S. Jung; P. Czodrowski; D. Summerer.

  Light-Activatable TET-Dioxygenases Reveal Dynamics of 5‑Methylcytosine Oxidation and Transcriptome Reorganization.

  JACS 2020, 142(16), 7289–7294. doi:10.1021/jacs.0c01193 DOI PMID:32286069 PMID
  Chemical BiologyDNA ModificationsMethods
  Impact: First temporal control of TET dioxygenase activity in mammalian cells enabling time-resolved monitoring of methylation dynamics and transcriptome reorganization
• J. Fueller; K. Herbst; M. Meurer; K. Gubicza; B. Kurtulmus; J. D. Knopf; D. Kirrmaier; B. C. Buchmuller; G. Pereira; M. K. Lemberg; M. Knop.

  CRISPR-Cas12a–assisted PCR tagging of mammalian genes.

  J. Cell Biol. 2020, 219(6), e201910210. doi:10.1083/jcb.201910210 DOI PMID:32406907 PMID PMC7265327 PMC
  CRISPRFunctional GenomicsMethods
  Impact: Extended our CASTLING approach for gene editing to mammalian cells with up to 60% in-frame tagging efficiency; now widely adopted for endogenous protein tagging studies
• Á. Muñoz‐López; B. Buchmuller; J. Wolffgramm; A. Jung; M. Hussong; J. Kanne; M. R. Schweiger; D. Summerer.

  Designer Receptors for Nucleotide‐Resolution Analysis of Genomic 5‐Methylcytosine by Cellular Imaging.

  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59(23), 8927–8931. doi:10.1002/anie.202001935 DOI PMID:32167219 PMID PMC7318601 PMC
  Impact: First nucleotide-resolution imaging of 5mC in single cells; enabled direct correlation between epigenetic marks and transcription factor recruitment
• B. C. Buchmuller; B. Kosel; D. Summerer.

  Complete Profiling of Methyl-CpG-Binding Domains for Combinations of Cytosine Modifications at CpG Dinucleotides Reveals Differential Read-out in Normal and Rett-Associated States.

  Sci. Rep. 2020, 10(1), 4053. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-61030-1 DOI PMID:32132616 PMID PMC7055227 PMC
  ChromatinDNA ModificationsHuman Disease
  Impact: First comprehensive profiling of the human MBD protein family revealing differential recognition of oxidized CpG marks by Rett syndrome-associated MeCP2 mutations
• B. C. Buchmuller*; K. Herbst*; M. Meurer; D. Kirrmaier; E. Sass; E. D. Levy; M. Knop.

  Pooled clone collections by multiplexed CRISPR-Cas12a-assisted gene tagging in yeast.

  Nat. Commun. 2019, 10(1), 2960. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-10816-7 DOI PMID:31273196 PMID PMC6609715 PMC
  Functional GenomicsYeastMethodsCRISPR
  Impact: CASTLING enables rapid construction of yeast clone libraries with >90% tagging efficiency; method adapted for mammalian gene tagging (Fueller et al. 2020, J Cell Biol) and cited in advanced Cas12a engineering studies
• M. Gieß; A. Muñoz-López; B. Buchmuller; G. Kubik; D. Summerer.

  Programmable Protein–DNA Cross-Linking for the Direct Capture and Quantification of 5‑Formylcytosine.

  JACS 2019, 141(24), 9453–9457. doi:10.1021/jacs.9b01432 DOI PMID:31180648 PMID
  DNA ModificationsMethods
• S. Maurer; B. Buchmuller; C. Ehrt; J. Jasper; O. Koch; D. Summerer.

  Overcoming conservation in TALE–DNA interactions: a minimal repeat scaffold enables selective recognition of an oxidized 5-methylcytosine.

  Chem. Sci. 2018, 9(36), 7247–7252. doi:10.1039/c8sc01958d DOI PMID:30288245 PMID PMC6148557 PMC
  DNA ModificationsProtein Engineering
• M. Meurer; Y. Duan; E. Sass; I. Kats; K. Herbst; B. C. Buchmuller; V. Dederer; F. Huber; D. Kirrmaier; M. Štefl; K. V. Laer; T. P. Dick; M. K. Lemberg; A. Khmelinskii; E. D. Levy; M. Knop.

  Genome-wide C-SWAT library for high-throughput yeast genome tagging.

  Nat. Methods 2018, 15(8), 598–600. doi:10.1038/s41592-018-0045-8 DOI PMID:29988096 PMID
  Functional GenomicsYeastMethods
• C. Liolios; B. Buchmuller; U. Bauder-Wüst; M. Schäfer; K. Leotta; U. Haberkorn; M. Eder; K. Kopka.

  Monomeric and Dimeric 68Ga-Labeled Bombesin Analogues for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Imaging of Tumors Expressing Gastrin-Releasing Peptide Receptors (GRPrs).

  J. Med. Chem. 2018, 61(5), 2062–2074. doi:10.1021/acs.jmedchem.7b01856 DOI PMID:29432691 PMID
  CancerMedicinal ChemistryImaging

Reviews, Book Chapters, Monographs

• B. C. Buchmuller.

  Deciphering strand-asymmetrically modified CpG dyads in the DNA double-helix.

  2021. doi:10.17877/DE290R-22422 DOI
  DNA ModificationsProtein EngineeringMethods
• B. Buchmuller; Á. Muñoz-López; M. Gieß; D. Summerer.

  DNA Modifications, Methods and Protocols.

  Methods Mol. Biol. 2021, 2198, 381–399. doi:10.1007/978-1-0716-0876-0 DOI PMID:32822046 PMID
  DNA ModificationsImagingMethods
• B. Buchmuller; A. Jung; Á. Muñoz-López; D. Summerer.

  Programmable tools for targeted analysis of epigenetic DNA modifications.

  Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2021, 63, 1–10. doi:10.1016/j.cbpa.2021.01.002 DOI PMID:33588304 PMID
  DNA ModificationsImagingMethods

Protocols

Good protocols evolve over time, but printed copies often don’t. Here, I share version-controlled write-ups to help track changes. You can look up recipes, check whether your printed copy is current, or just browse for the latest method: