Franziska Bleichert, PhD
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Assistant Professor
Biography
Dr. Bleichert’s research focuses on understanding the operating principles of macromolecular machines involved in chromosome replication and in the maintenance of genome stability using a combination of structural biology, biochemical, biophysical, and cellular approaches. She obtained her PhD from Yale University in 2010 working on ribosome biogenesis, and afterwards performed her postdoctoral work at UC Berkeley as a Miller Fellow, and then at Johns Hopkins Medical School. As a postdoctoral fellow, she determined the structure of the eukaryotic initiator complex, a key component in the assembly pathway of the DNA replication machinery. Since 2017, Dr. Bleichert has been an independent research group leader at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in Basel, Switzerland. She will join Yale’s Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry as an Assistant Professor in January 2020.
Appointments
Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry
Assistant ProfessorPrimary
Other Departments & Organizations
- Biochemistry, Quantitative Biology, Biophysics and Structural Biology (BQBS)
- DNA Damage and Genome Integrity
- Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry
- Molecular Medicine, Pharmacology, and Physiology
- Plant Molecular Biology
- Yale Cancer Center
- Yale Combined Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS)
Education & Training
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2016)
- Miller Fellow
- University of California, Berkeley (2013)
- PhD
- Yale University
Research
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Overview
Medical Research Interests
ORCID
0000-0003-0014-770X- View Lab Website
Bleichert lab
Research at a Glance
Yale Co-Authors
Publications Timeline
Research Interests
Ashish Kumar, PhD
Adam Krysztofiak, PhD
Daniel Andrés Colón Ríos
Faye Rogers, PhD
Lilian Kabeche, PhD
Peter M. Glazer, MD, PhD
DNA Replication
Publications
2025
Molecular impacts of Meier–Gorlin syndrome mutations on human origin licensing
Yang R, Hunker O, Kim J, Bleichert F. Molecular impacts of Meier–Gorlin syndrome mutations on human origin licensing. Journal Of Biological Chemistry 2025, 302: 111100. PMID: 41448435, PMCID: PMC12830165, DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2025.111100.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsLicense to Replicate: Mechanisms of Licensing Eukaryotic Origins for DNA Replication
Frisbie V, Bleichert F. License to Replicate: Mechanisms of Licensing Eukaryotic Origins for DNA Replication. BioEssays 2025, 48: e70095. PMID: 41423967, PMCID: PMC12719912, DOI: 10.1002/bies.70095.Peer-Reviewed Reviews, Practice Guidelines, Standards, and Consensus StatementsCitationsAlphaFold-guided phylogenetic analyses suggest surprising heterogeneity in metazoan replication origin licensing mechanisms
Hunker O, Bleichert F. AlphaFold-guided phylogenetic analyses suggest surprising heterogeneity in metazoan replication origin licensing mechanisms. The EMBO Journal 2025, 45: 310-333. PMID: 41310087, PMCID: PMC12759066, DOI: 10.1038/s44318-025-00628-5.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricThe mitotic ATR-Chk1 pathway promotes CDK1 activity for faithful chromosome segregation
Joo Y, Parrado C, Li W, Yang R, Black E, Bleichert F, Liu Y, Kabeche L. The mitotic ATR-Chk1 pathway promotes CDK1 activity for faithful chromosome segregation. Cell Reports 2025, 44: 116019. PMID: 40705605, PMCID: PMC12451630, DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.116019.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetric
2024
Multiple mechanisms for licensing human replication origins
Yang R, Hunker O, Wise M, Bleichert F. Multiple mechanisms for licensing human replication origins. Nature 2024, 636: 488-498. PMID: 39604729, PMCID: PMC11910750, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08237-8.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricNext-generation cell-penetrating antibodies for tumor targeting and RAD51 inhibition
Rackear M, Quijano E, Ianniello Z, Colón-Ríos D, Krysztofiak A, Abdullah R, Liu Y, Rogers F, Ludwig D, Dwivedi R, Bleichert F, Glazer P. Next-generation cell-penetrating antibodies for tumor targeting and RAD51 inhibition. Oncotarget 2024, 15: 699-713. PMID: 39352803, PMCID: PMC11444335, DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.28651.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetric
2023
A dual role for the chromatin reader ORCA/LRWD1 in targeting the origin recognition complex to chromatin
Sahu S, Ekundayo B, Kumar A, Bleichert F. A dual role for the chromatin reader ORCA/LRWD1 in targeting the origin recognition complex to chromatin. The EMBO Journal 2023, 42: embj2023114654. PMID: 37551430, PMCID: PMC10505921, DOI: 10.15252/embj.2023114654.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetric
2022
A mechanism of origin licensing control through autoinhibition of S. cerevisiae ORC·DNA·Cdc6
Schmidt JM, Yang R, Kumar A, Hunker O, Seebacher J, Bleichert F. A mechanism of origin licensing control through autoinhibition of S. cerevisiae ORC·DNA·Cdc6. Nature Communications 2022, 13: 1059. PMID: 35217664, PMCID: PMC8881611, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28695-w.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetric
2020
Structural mechanism for replication origin binding and remodeling by a metazoan origin recognition complex and its co-loader Cdc6
Schmidt JM, Bleichert F. Structural mechanism for replication origin binding and remodeling by a metazoan origin recognition complex and its co-loader Cdc6. Nature Communications 2020, 11: 4263. PMID: 32848132, PMCID: PMC7450096, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18067-7.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH KeywordsAAA DomainAdenosine TriphosphateAnimalsCell Cycle ProteinsCryoelectron MicroscopyDNADrosophila melanogasterDrosophila ProteinsHydrolysisMinichromosome Maintenance ProteinsModels, MolecularOrigin Recognition ComplexProtein BindingRecombinant ProteinsReplication OriginSaccharomyces cerevisiaeSaccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
2019
Mechanisms of replication origin licensing: a structural perspective
Bleichert F. Mechanisms of replication origin licensing: a structural perspective. Current Opinion In Structural Biology 2019, 59: 195-204. PMID: 31630057, DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2019.08.007.Peer-Reviewed Reviews, Practice Guidelines, Standards, and Consensus StatementsCitations
Academic Achievements & Community Involvement
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Honors
honor ERC Starting Grant
10/01/2017International AwardDetailsSwitzerlandhonor Miller Research Fellowship
07/01/2010Other AwardDetailsUnited Stateshonor Stanford Biochemistry Founders’ Award for Doctoral Excellence
05/01/2010National AwardDetailsUnited Stateshonor Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds PhD Fellowship
01/01/2005International AwardDetailsGermany
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Locations
Yale Science Building
Academic Office
260 Whitney Avenue, Fl 3, Rm 345
New Haven, CT 06511