Person
Rastegar, Sepand
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Biography and Research Interest
Sepand Rastegar is a developmental and molecular biologist studying how gene regulation controls nervous system development and regeneration. He obtained a Diploma from the University of Strasbourg (1995–1997) and a PhD from the University of Ulm (1997–2000), and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at IGBMC, Strasbourg (2000–2002). Since 2002 he has held a permanent senior researcher position at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM). Since January 2005 he has worked at the Institute of Biological and Chemical Systems – Biological Information Processing (IBCS-BIP, formerly ITG) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, first as project leader and, since 2020, as independent group leader. His group participates in the European projects DANIO-CODE and DANIO-ReCODE, which annotate functional elements of the zebrafish genome and study transcriptional regulation during regeneration.
Selected publications:
- Chen J, Takamiya M, Hendriks A, Beil T, Várnai C, Diotel N, Rastegar S. Multiple cis-regulatory elements collaborate to control mdka expression in telencephalic neural stem cells of adult zebrafish during constitutive and regenerative neurogenesis. The FEBS Journal 2026; 293(7): 1951–1969. doi:10.1111/febs.70345
- Chen F, Köhler M, Cucun G, Takamiya M, Kizil C, Cosacak MI, Rastegar S. sox1a:eGFP transgenic line and single-cell transcriptomics reveal the origin of zebrafish intraspinal serotonergic neurons. iScience 2023; 26(8): 107342. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107342
- Baranasic D, Hörtenhuber M, Balwierz PJ, et al. (DANIO-CODE consortium), Rastegar S, et al. Multiomic atlas with functional stratification and developmental dynamics of zebrafish cis-regulatory elements. Nature Genetics 2022; 54: 1037–1050. doi:10.1038/s41588-022-01089-w
- Zhang G, Ferg M, Lübke L, Takamiya M, Beil T, Gourain V, Diotel N, Strähle U, Rastegar S. Bone morphogenetic protein signaling regulates Id1-mediated neural stem cell quiescence in the adult zebrafish brain via a phylogenetically conserved enhancer module. Stem Cells 2020; 38: 875–889. doi:10.1002/stem.3182
- Gerber V, Yang L, Takamiya M, Ribes V, Gourain V, Peravali R, Stegmaier J, Mikut R, Reischl M, Ferg M, Rastegar S, Strähle U. The HMG box transcription factors Sox1a and Sox1b specify a new class of glycinergic interneuron in the spinal cord of zebrafish embryos. Development 2019; 146(4): dev172510. doi:10.1242/dev.172510
Selected publications:
- Chen J, Takamiya M, Hendriks A, Beil T, Várnai C, Diotel N, Rastegar S. Multiple cis-regulatory elements collaborate to control mdka expression in telencephalic neural stem cells of adult zebrafish during constitutive and regenerative neurogenesis. The FEBS Journal 2026; 293(7): 1951–1969. doi:10.1111/febs.70345
- Chen F, Köhler M, Cucun G, Takamiya M, Kizil C, Cosacak MI, Rastegar S. sox1a:eGFP transgenic line and single-cell transcriptomics reveal the origin of zebrafish intraspinal serotonergic neurons. iScience 2023; 26(8): 107342. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107342
- Baranasic D, Hörtenhuber M, Balwierz PJ, et al. (DANIO-CODE consortium), Rastegar S, et al. Multiomic atlas with functional stratification and developmental dynamics of zebrafish cis-regulatory elements. Nature Genetics 2022; 54: 1037–1050. doi:10.1038/s41588-022-01089-w
- Zhang G, Ferg M, Lübke L, Takamiya M, Beil T, Gourain V, Diotel N, Strähle U, Rastegar S. Bone morphogenetic protein signaling regulates Id1-mediated neural stem cell quiescence in the adult zebrafish brain via a phylogenetically conserved enhancer module. Stem Cells 2020; 38: 875–889. doi:10.1002/stem.3182
- Gerber V, Yang L, Takamiya M, Ribes V, Gourain V, Peravali R, Stegmaier J, Mikut R, Reischl M, Ferg M, Rastegar S, Strähle U. The HMG box transcription factors Sox1a and Sox1b specify a new class of glycinergic interneuron in the spinal cord of zebrafish embryos. Development 2019; 146(4): dev172510. doi:10.1242/dev.172510
Non-Zebrafish Publications
Friedle, H., Rastegar, S., Paul, H., Kaufmann, E. and Knochel, W. (1998) Xvent-1 mediates BMP-4-induced suppression of the dorsal-lip-specific early response gene XFD-1' in Xenopus embryos. EMBO J. 17(8):2298-2307.
Rastegar, S., Friedle, H., Frommer, G. and Knochel, W. (1999) Transcriptional regulation of Xvent homeobox genes. Mech. Dev. 81:139-149.
Hennigfeld, K.A., Rastegar, S., Adler, G. and Knochel, W. (2000) Smadl and Smad4 are components of the BMP-4 induced transcription complex of the Xvent-2B promoter. J. Biol. Chem. 275(29):21827-21835.
Hennigfeld, K.A., Friedle, H., Rastegar, S. and Knochel, W. (2002) Autoregulation of Xvent-2B: Direct interaction and functional cooperation of Xvent-2 and Smadl. J. Biol. Chem. 277:2097-2103.