For this CRC, the Beyer group wants to follow up on their interest in transcriptional and epigenetic programming of macrophages and study in more detail how HIF-1 alpha can govern macrophage function in visceral adipose tissue and characterize the impact of HIF-1 alpha on the transcriptional identity of VAT macrophages. As both embryonic and HSC-derived cells are key for VAT tissue homeostasis one aspect will be to delineate the impact of HIF-1 alpha for both cell compartments. One recent finding suggests as feedback loop between visceral adipose tissue and bone marrow impacting macrophage function downstream of HIF1 alpha. Using newly developed CRISPR/Cas9-based tools, the Beyer group also wants to identify additional key components of the transcriptional and epigenetic make-up of VAT macrophages to study their role in more detail in the next funding period.