After 13 years, the RNA DK now celebrates with a final closing conference. Looking back, what was the biggest highlight for you?
This is easy to answer, because we had Emmanuelle Charpentier in our faculty at the beginning. Her Nobel Prize for the co-discovery of the CRISPR/Cas9 system in 2020 was the absolute highlight. One of her PhD students, Krzysztof Chylinski, who was responsible for many results which then led to the famous publications about CRISPR/Cas9, was part of our program. Over the years, many of our faculty members were promoted and many students started their careers in our school. Overall, I am very happy that we had so many talented students and group leaders who contributed to the exciting research being done in this DK. Our scientists have elucidated the mechanism by which piRNAs silence transposons and discovered how RNAs influence the pathogenicity of bacteria, just to name one or two scientific highlights.
Why is it important to train PhD students in such a thematic framework with groups that are really interested in one topic?
When you look back at the development of PhD programs, especially in Austria, in earlier times PhD students were working closely with their PI but never had contact with any other faculty members or colleagues. If students ran into problems, or they wanted to discuss something, they only had their PI to talk to. We started this DK with the goal to improve the interactions between faculty and students. Having the opportunity to exchange ideas is a major advantage in science. Our researchers work on related questions and sometimes you run into similar problems. Our retreats and our seminars proved invaluable for the exchange of ideas between members of the DK. We also introduced advisory committees to monitor and support the progress of our PhD students, which was not so common before we started our program. Having such an outside view from experts in your field can help solve problems students might run into during their PhD project.
The DK focused on RNA biology. You yourself have been researching RNA as a group leader for many years. Where does the field stand now, compared to when you started?
When I started, there were only tRNAs, messenger RNAs and ribosomal RNAs, nothing else was known. When I finished my PhD, new sequencing methods were established and that really kick-started a lot of things, culminating in the discovery of small and large non-coding RNAs. This really changed how we view RNAs because we could assign enzymatic activities to these molecules. We realized that they influence gene expression and many other activities in the cell.
On a more general note, what has changed in the way science is done?
I don't think there has been a lot of change in the way science is done. I really hope so, because I think that there is only one good way you can do science.
And what is that way?
Do your experiments carefully and control the experiments carefully. Always try to disprove your results. But perhaps what you're alluding to is the methods, and they have changed completely in the past 30 years. Be it DNA sequencing methods, or later restriction enzymes, and then CRISPR Cas9 and bioinformatics. Also, the latest microscopy methods changed what we can see, which makes so much of a difference.
I guess it was hard back in the day to visualize what you were working on?
There was electron microscopy, but you had to basically kill the cell. Today you can really look deeply into living cells, which I find fascinating. When I started my scientific career, we often had to use our imagination to visualize what's going on, but now you can actually see processes in the cell in unprecedented detail. Seeing is believing. [laughs]
What would be your advice to young researchers and students?
I think in science it's important to be very attentive and focus on the details. Never forget that each detail is important. On the other hand, you have to keep the big picture in mind. If you can do both then your science will flourish. But if you don't do the detailed work, then the big picture is worth nothing. I think this balance is what you have to learn.
---
About DKs
Doctoral Programmes (DKs) are projects funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, with the goal to provide PhD education in a clearly defined research framework. Funding for the DK RNA Biology was granted for four three year periods and covered the costs for about 100 PhD students and supported their education by covering travel and other expenses, workshops and consumables.
Doctoral Program in RNA Biology
Participating Institutions: Max Perutz Labs, Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA), Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI), Research Center for Molecular Medicine (CeMM).
101 doctoral researchers, 26 different nationalities
185 peer reviewed publications involving DK students, 106 with first author from the DK
118 publications with an Impact Factor higher then 5, including 12 publications in Cell, Nature or Science.
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: LEYVA GONZALEZ Marco (Tanaka), MILJKOVIC Frane (Köhler), PINTER Theresa (Busslinger)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Illuminating protein degradation by the 26S proteasome and its regulation by ubiquitin
Speaker: Andreas MartinInstitute: University of California, BerkeleyHost: David Haselbach
Cryo-EM reveals a structural diversity of bioenergetic complexes
Speaker: Alexey AmuntsInstitute: Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm UniversityHost: Silvia Ramundo
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: SCHOLZ Julia (Otsuka), BAUER Bernd (Martens)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Global Views of Mammalian Development
Speaker: Jay ShendureInstitute: University of WashingtonHost: Alex Stark
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: ALMEIDA Bernardo (Stark), MILIVOJEV Nadja (Raible), HOLCIK Laurenz (Von Haeseler)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: IGOLKINA Anna (Nordborg), KRAMMER Teresa (Tanaka), AMANN Sascha Josef (Haselbach)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
European Worm Meeting 2022
We cordially invite you to the 2022 European Worm Meeting (EWM) taking place in Vienna, July 27-30. The meeting is hosted by the University of Vienna.
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: SCHMIDT Clara (Mendjan), GOGOVA Rebeca (Clausen), SAAD RODRIGUES Carolina (Schlögelhofer)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: YU Changwei (Brennecke), HAENDELER Simon (Von Haeseler), PASSERA Alessandro (Balzarotti)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: SEONG Jinwoo (Rivron), NAVA GARCIA Marintia Mayola (Dagdas), DENEKE Victoria (Pauli)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Xin ChenInstitute: Johns Hopkins UniversityHost: Fred Berger
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: KELLNER Max Josef (Penninger), LEITNER Marie-Christin (Mendjan), TERIYAPIROM Isaree (Koo)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Mark DawsonInstitute: Peter MacCallum Cancer CentreHost: Johannes Zuber
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: HOLZMANN Viktoria (Rivron), LEV Itamar (Zimmer), HODAKOVA Zuzana (Haselbach)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Dominique BergmannInstitute: Stanford UniversityHost: Liam Dolan
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: BABADEI Olga (Decker), OTSUKI Leo (Tanaka), AYALA MUNOZ Farja (Plaschka)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Yves BarralInstitute: ETH ZurichHost: Shotaro Otsuka
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: TAKACS Zsuzsanna (Gerlich), DE LA CONCEPCION Juan Carlos (Dagdas), FEDL Anna (Busslinger)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Sophie PetropoulosInstitute: Karolinska InstitutetHost: Nicolas Rivron
Title to be announced
Speaker: Benoit BruneauInstitute: Gladstone InstitutesHost: Sasha Mendjan
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: GALLI Lucrezia (Tanaka), HORN Sabrina (Peters), JACOBS Jelle (Stark)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Richard FlavellInstitute: Yale University School of MedicineHost: Meinrad Busslinger
Title to be announced
Speaker: Bernd BukauInstitute: ZMBHHost: Elif Karagäz
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: POPOVA Mariia (Peters), RITSCHKA Birgit (Tanaka), DOMBEY Rodolphe (Mari-Ordonez)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: INCARBONE Marco (Mittelsten Scheid), GRUNDMANN Lorenz (Haselbach), NEMCKO Filip (Stark)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: TELONI Federico (Gerlich), WALLNER Eva-Sophie (Dolan), PUSHPA BOSE Greeshma (Urban)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: LIU Haijun (Nordborg), NAVALAYE Tsimafei (Ameres), NAAS Julia (Von Haeseler)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: CHUGUNOVA Anastasia (Pauli), RÖTZER Johannes (Dolan), JONSSON Gustav (Penninger)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: KLAUS Loni (Stark), BENEDUM Johannes (Slade), LITTLEBOY Jamie (Knoblich)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Daniel MucidaInstitute: Rockefeller UniversityHost: Meinrad Busslinger
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: ANTONIOLI Sumire (Leonard), LI Chong (Knoblich), PABST Gabriel (Zuber)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Lacra BintuInstitute: Stanford UniversityHost: Alex Stark
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: DIEZMA Laura (Nordborg/Mari-Ordonez), GHOSH Dipannita (Grade), PATEL Rajvi (Matos)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be annouced
Speaker: Adele MarstonInstitute: Wellcome Centre Cell Biology, University of EdinburghHost: Daniel Gerlich, Joao Matos
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: KORDIC Darja (Clausen), DEIBER Sebastian (Dolan), GEHRE Maja (Brennecke)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: ZMAJKOVIC Jakub (Zuber), MAURER Eric (Peters), NOGALES MORAL Adrian (Köhler)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: HUETTER Christiane (Menche), BASSAT Elad (Tanaka), PETRZILEK Jan (Ameres)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: KALIS Robert (Zuber), NAJM Ramsey (Knoblich), GEROCZ Emoke (Gerlich)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: AUGUSTO Pedro (Zimmer), POLISSENI Claudio (Tanaka), ELEWAUT Anais (Obenauf)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: GUO Pin (Dolan), DAO Pauline (Tessmar), JAVALI Alok(Rivron)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: STUART Hannah (Tanaka), KORESHOVA Alevtina (Burga), ZHAN Ni (Dagdas)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: CRONIN Shona (Obenauf), KANNO Tatsuo (Berger), PACHINGER Claudia (Dammermann)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: SHUKLA Vikas (Berger), RODRIGUEZ TERRONES Diego (Tanaka), WIDEN Sonya (Burga)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: VOICHEK Yoav (Norborg), SESTINI Giovanni (Rivron), PETROULAKI Vasiliki (Matos)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: BRUNNER Hanna (Haselbach), FRIDRICH Arie (Berger), AKULOVA Vasilina (Swarts)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: DE SANTIS Martina (Rivron), BUENDIA Daniel (Mari-Ordonez), VISANPATTANASIN Supapat (Plaschka)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: VOJTEK Matus (Stark), LEHMANN Christian (Knoblich), LEE Du-Hwa (Belkhadir)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: SPICER Maximilian (Gerlich), ESTIVILL I CAPAAROS Guillem (Obenauf), MURPHY Paul (Clausen)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: JÄGER Christina (Van der Veeken), PRADHAN Saurabh (Rivron), RAFANEL Baptiste (Brennecke)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: BELACIC Katarina (Haselbach), HARVEY Zachary (Berger), MILOJKOVIC Lidija (Urban)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: GOMEZ SEGALAS Alba (Balzarotti), KOLESNIKOVA Sofia (Gerlich), HANDLER Dominik (Brennecke)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: BAUCELLS Julia (Dammermann), PANAROTTO-PERICLES Melanie (Peters), VOICHEK Maya Shinan (Brennecke)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: DMITRIEV Vladimir (Goloborodko), HISANAGA Tetsuya (Berger), KHALDIEH Nina (Ameres)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: SOMMER Theresa (Rivron), SHIRZADIAN YAZD Mehrta (Balzarotti), VERTESY Abel (Knoblich)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: POLIKARPOVA Anastasia (Tanaka), CHAKRABORTY Oisorjo (Grade), CORSI Flavia (Goloborodko)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: FESSELET Jeanne (Kovarik), KHAURATOVIC Uladzislava (Matos/Golobordko), SHEN Jingyi (Obenauf)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: PERNEBRINK Mattias (Tanaka), HOHMANN Ulrich (Brennecke/Plaschka), MANOLOVA Toni (Falk)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: WU Shuangyang (Dolan), SCARAMUZZA Federico (Tessmar), KROGULL Daniel (Burga)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: HEIDARI KHOEI Heidar (Rivron), BELL Caelan (Gerlich), GALUSKA Philipp (Djinovic)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: ABDRAKHMANOV Alibek (Dagdas), WILLIAMS Thomas (Clausen), GEISMANN Maximilian (Balzarotti)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: JELENIC Stela (Saha), PACHECO FIALLOS Franics Belen (Plaschka), FONTES OLIVEIRA Tiago Manuel (Penninger)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: NAGUMO WONG Sakurako (Knoblich), LORENZO ORTS Laura (Pauli), ROSS James (Burga)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: RAFFL Gerald (Ameres), SAJTOS Bettina (Zuber), ISHIHARA Keisuke (Tanaka)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: STEINACKER Thomas (Gerlich), EDER Stephanie (Zimmer), TIKANOVA Polina (Burga)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: SCHELLHAAS Ulla (Plaschka/Ameres), RUSCH Emma (Goloborodko), CLAVEL Marion (Dagdas)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: RADHAKRISHNA PILLAI Balashankar (Saha), ADELMANN Leonie (Raible), BLAHA Andreas (Pauli)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: VULIN Milica (Obenauf), MEREITER Stefan (Penninger), BINDL Michael (Leeb)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: LORBEER Franziska (Stark), MULVEY Hugh (Dolan), PÜHRINGER Florian (Burga)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: HOLZER Elisabeth (Martens), COLOZZA Gabriele (Koo), FALCON CHAVEZ Francisco (Tanaka)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: RÖHSNER Josef (Pauli), OKUN Anastasia (Karagöz), JUNG Pauline (Obenauf)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: LICHT-MAYER Simon (Penninger), CAYGILL Samuel (Dolan), MIGOTTI Mario (Konrat)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: SHUNMUGAM Dhanlakshmi (Baccarini), CECI GINISTRELLI Lavinia (Mendjan), VORLÄNDER Matthias (Plaschka)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: KOK Jian Yi (Berger), HUMER Theresa (Pauli), SODERHOLM Adrian (Versteeg)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: STRAVS Ana (Knoblich), SANCHEZ DE MEDINA HERNANDEZ Victor (Dagdas), KRUMWIEDE Luisa (Gaidt)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: TAVERINI Katherina (Urban), SHETTY Kavya Krishna (Stark), CORIC Aida (Tessmar)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: GRABARCZYK Daniel (Clausen), PROTELL I DE MONTSERRAT Julia (Brennecke/Plaschka), MANCHENO JUNCOSA Estela (Mendjan)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: ATTRILL Sarah (Dolan), UIJTTEWAAL Esther (Elling), SCIBISZ Grzegorz (Karagöz)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: DOLESCHALL Balint (Knoblich), FENG Sonjie (Bücker), BOURGUET Pierre (Berger)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: HORENKAMP Simone (Tanaka), CASEY Chloe (Dolan), KAPRAL Thomas (Zagrovic)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: KOBAKHIDZE George (Dong), ANGELOPOULOU Eleni (Ellis), PACHANO Tomas (Stark)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: RAMIREZ America (Köhler), VÖLKL Isabella (Bücker), HOANG Oi Pui (Technau)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: LEITNER Moritz (Martinez), VOGEL Alexander (Yudushkin), KETTEL Paulina (Karagöz)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: TSAREV Aleksandr (Ameres), FIESELER Charlie (Zimmer), ABESAMIS Kim Ivan (Dong)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: STREUBEL Susanna (Dolan), KLEIFELD Justus (Urban), ORLIC Lucija (Matos)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: SHULKINA Alexandra (Versteeg), GEETHA Sowmya (Jantsch), MADHUSUDHANAN Jalaja (Zimmer)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: KOLLER Manuela (Campbell), GUPTA Ankit (Goloborodko), SCHMÖLLERL Johannes (Zuber)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: MARCHIORI Elisa (Van der Veeken), ACHLEITNER Anja (Martens), FAAS Victoria (Clausen)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: SALEWSKIJ Kirill (Penninger), KIRCHGATTERER Paul (Gaidt), REN Kaike (Otsuka)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: MIHAILOVIC Milica (Karagöz), BELL Lillie (Clausen)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
+43 1 4277 240 01
Today: 9am - 5pm
Vienna Biocenter (VBC)
Dr.-Bohr-Gasse 9, 1030 Vienna