Associate Professor of Biology; Director, Program in Molecular Biology, Cell Biology & Biochemistry

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Current Research

Regulatory DNA encodes the gene regulatory networks that are required for virtually every process in an animal, from development to immunity. The Wunderlich lab is interested in understanding how a gene regulatory network’s tasks influence its architecture, robustness, and evolvability. To probe these questions, we use two model systems: the Drosophila early embryonic patterning system and the Drosophila innate immune response. In both systems, we pair imaging-based and genomic measurements of gene expression with statistical and physically based computational models to explore questions of gene regulatory network function. We exploit naturally occurring sequence variation between individuals and species as a tool to measure how changes in regulatory DNA affect transcriptional regulation.

Selected Publications

    • Cohen LB, Hadzic T, Sauer C, Gibbs JR, Wunderlich Z. A genome-wide survey reveals that a diverse array of enhancers coordinates the Drosophila innate immune response. Genome Res. 2026 May 6;36(5):964-975. doi: 10.1101/gr.281432.125.
    • Nawar N, Rits E, Cohen LB, Wunderlich Z. Heterogeneous NF-κB activation and enhancer features shape transcription in Drosophila immunity. Biophys J. 2026 Feb 17;125(4):1107-1124. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2026.01.013
    • Cabrera K, Hoard DS, Gibson O, Martinez DI, Wunderlich Z (2023) Drosophila immune priming to Enterococcus faecalis relies on immune tolerance rather than resistance. PLoS Pathog 19(8): e1011567. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1011567 
    • Fletcher A, Wunderlich Z, Enciso G. Shadow enhancers mediate trade-offs between transcriptional noise and fidelity. PLOS Computational Biology. (2023). doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011071
    • BA Ramirez-Corona, AC Love, S Chandrasekaran, JA Preshcer, Z Wunderlich. Longitudinal monitoring of individual infection progression in Drosophila melanogaster. iScience. (2022). doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105378
    • R Waymack, M Gad, Z Wunderlich. Molecular competition can shape enhancer activity in the Drosophila embryo. iScience. (2021). doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103034
    • E Kvon, R Waymack, M Gad, Z Wunderlich. Enhancer Redundancy in Development and Disease. Nature Reviews Genetics. (2021).
 doi: 10.1038/s41576-020-00311-x
    • R Waymack, A Fletcher, G Enciso, Z Wunderlich. Shadow enhancers suppress input transcription factor noise through distinct regulatory logic. eLife. (2020). doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011071

 

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