The Thomä laboratory is interested in chromatin-bound machines and their regulation by the ubiquitin proteasome system. Guided by structural biology, we use a range of genetic, chemical and complex biochemical reconstitution approaches to study protein function in genome maintenance and transcription. A particular focus is on dissecting how chromatin and the ubiquitin transferase system interplay. In recent years, the lab worked towards understanding how proteins, such as ubiquitin ligases, can be re-programmed by small molecules, and how this insight can be used to develop novel drugs.