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Neurobiology meets RNA processing

Jan 23, 2026

The year 2026 is off to a strong start for Erinc Hallacli, who has secured new funding from the Herzfelder’sche Familienstiftung to pursue an ambitious research project at the interface of neurobiology and RNA metabolism. The grant supports his project ‘Impact of aSyn Fibrils on Human Neuronal RNA Metabolism’, which investigates how pathogenic protein aggregates influence RNA decay in neurons – an underexplored aspect of neurodegenerative disease biology.
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Nell Saunders receives EMBO Fellowship

Jan 12, 2026

Nell Saunders from the Hein lab has been awarded a prestigious EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship to support her work on innovative CRISPR-based approaches to study viral infections. The fellowship funds up to two years of research, promotes international mobility, and provides access to EMBO’s global network as well as advanced training opportunities. The award highlights the strength of the research environment at the Perutz and its ability to attract and support exceptional postdoctoral researchers from across Europe and beyond.
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Ending 2025 with two new FWF grants

Dec 18, 2025

Two Perutz group leaders – Gang Dong and Javier Martinez – have secured new Principal Investigator grants from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Their projects will investigate how a parasite evades the immune system, and how the tRNA ligase complex is regulated and degraded. With approximately €6 million in FWF funding awarded to Perutz researchers this year – including €1 million in this call alone – the institute marks one of its most successful funding years to date.
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FWF Special Research Program ‘Meiosis‘ extended

Dec 16, 2025

The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) has approved the prolongation of the Special Research Program (SFB) ‘Meiosis’, coordinated by Perutz Group Leader Verena Jantsch-Plunger, extending the collaborative project from 2026 to 2030. Originally launched in 2022, the SFB brings together nine research groups across Austria and Germany to study the fundamental mechanisms of meiotic recombination and genome haploidization, with a total funding volume of more than €8.8 million across both funding periods. Five labs from the Perutz are involved in the consortium, underscoring the institute’s strong contribution to this interdisciplinary effort.
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Jovana Jovanovic secures this year’s 14th PhD Fellowship for the Perutz

Dec 09, 2025

The Perutz concludes its 20th anniversary year with another great achievement: Jovana Jovanovic (Ameres lab) is the 14th PhD researcher to receive a major fellowship this year – a new institutional record. Jovana has been awarded the highly competitive Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF) PhD Fellowship, which provides up to 3.5 years of funding as well as access to an international network of BIF Fellows. The fellowship recognizes top young scientists with fewer than 10% of roughly 550 applicants selected annually across Europe.
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Irene Schwartz wins VBC PhD Award for outstanding research

Nov 07, 2025

Irene Schwartz has been awarded the Vienna BioCenter PhD Award for her exceptional doctoral research on how cells maintain immune balance through controlled proteasomal degradation. She is the 22nd Perutz graduate to receive this distinction, following Laura Santini in 2024. Established by former Perutz group leader Renée Schroeder, the prize honors outstanding PhD theses from across the Vienna BioCenter institutes, highlighting the excellence of young scientists in Vienna’s vibrant life sciences community.
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Sascha Martens secures ERC Synergy Grant for autophagy research

Nov 06, 2025

How do harmful protein aggregates accumulate in our cells – and why can’t the cell’s natural garbage disposal system always remove them? ‘DegrAbility’, the new ERC Synergy Grant awarded to Perutz group leader Sascha Martens, in collaboration with former Perutz group leader Claudine Kraft (now University of Freiburg) and James Hurley (UC Berkeley), aims to answer this fundamental question. Over the next six years, the team will receive a total of €10 million to uncover how the cellular recycling system, known as autophagy, can be strengthened to prevent the accumulation of toxic protein aggregates that contribute to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. This prestigious and highly competitive grant represents a major investment in fundamental cell biology research and unites three experts in autophagy and protein quality control.
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Unable to unwind, but not unhealthy

Oct 23, 2025

When chromosomes swap genetic material during meiosis – a process that generates crossovers – precision is everything. Double-strand DNA breaks are essential for chromosome alignment and segregation, but too many can threaten genome stability. The right balance fuels genetic diversity while preserving genome integrity. An enzyme long thought to inhibit crossover formation is now revealed to be a crucial architect of the process. In a new study published in Nucleic Acids Research, researchers from the Jantsch-Plunger lab discovered that the Bloom helicase, HIM-6, an enzyme that unwinds DNA, plays a previously unrecognized non-catalytic role in supporting successful meiosis in nematodes.
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FWF funding for group leaders Elif Karagöz and Pavel Kovarik

Oct 16, 2025

Perutz group leaders Elif Karagöz and Pavel Kovarik have been awarded more than € 850,000 in Principal Investigator Grants from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). The new funding deepens RNA research at the Perutz, supporting two projects that explore how RNA-binding proteins fine-tune cellular stress and immune responses at the post-transcriptional level. While the Karagöz lab investigates how IGF2BP3 modulates gene expression during endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, the Kovarik lab explores how the anti-inflammatory protein TTP helps maintain immune homeostasis by controlling inflammation.

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