New principal investigator projects funded by FWF
Verena Jantsch-Plunger and Javier Martinez, group leaders at the Perutz, have received new funding from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). In their respective Principal Investigator Projects, the Jantsch lab aims to unravel the role of Dbf4-dependent kinase (DDK) in meiosis while the Martinez lab examines Ashwin – one of five subunits of the tRNA ligase complex. Each project has been funded with approximately €500,000.
Nature’s 3D printer: Bristle edition
A new interdisciplinary study published in Nature Communications by the Raible group reveals new insights into the eponymous bristles of the bristle worm Platynereis dumerilii. With its material jetting principle, bristle building resembles the way a 3D printer works. Specialized cells called chaetoblasts control the synthesis of nascent bristles by regulating the deposition of chitin, a stiff polymer essential for bristle biogenesis. The project is a collaboration with researchers from the University of Helsinki, the Technical University of Vienna, and the Masaryk University of Brno.
Max Perutz Labs mourn the loss of an honored faculty member
The Max Perutz Labs grieve the loss of Hans Tuppy, an honorary faculty member who passed away on April 24, 2024 in Vienna at the age of 99, shortly before his 100th birthday. With Hans Tuppy's departure, we bid farewell to an esteemed figure in the field of biochemistry, a dedicated teacher, and a visionary advocate for science.
Time is of the essence
Interferons are crucial signaling molecules employed by the innate immune system in response to infection. Although different interferons give rise to immunologically distinct effects, from antiviral to macrophage-activating functions, the early transcriptional response of cells exhibits remarkable similarity. In work recently published in EMBO Journal, the Decker group and their collaborators from the Medical University of Vienna and the Veterinary Medical University of Vienna have discovered that differences in the biological outcome are rooted in the lifetime of a critical transcription factor, IRF1.
Revving up the engine: Immunity on standby
When pathogens invade the body, the immune system must react immediately to prevent or contain an infection. But how do our defense cells stay ready when no attacker is in sight? A team of research groups in Vienna, the lab of Perutz group leader Thomas Decker and scientists from the Research Center of Molecular Medicine (CeMM), the Medical University of Vienna, and the Veterinary Medical University of Vienna, have found a surprising explanation: immune cells are constantly stimulated by healthy tissue, which primes them to mount a rapid response in the event of infection. The work implies that maintaining a basal level of vigilance is crucial to an effective immune response. Medications that selectively enhance our immune system’s vigilance could therefore be valuable in the future. The study has been published in the journal Nature Immunology.
HFSP grant for consortium led by Kristin Tessmar-Raible
The Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) has awarded Perutz group leader Kristin Tessmar-Raible, together with researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of California, and the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea, a research grant of €1.35 million over the next three years. Within the collaborative project, Kristin will lead a team aiming to unravel the influence of temporally ordered biological processes on the adaptability and survival of organisms near the chemical and physical limits of life.
Perutz group leaders receive individual funding from FWF
Perutz group leaders Christa Bücker and Sascha Martens received new funding from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) for their Principal Investigator Projects (formerly known as Stand-Alone Projects). The Buecker lab will take a novel, systematic approach to investigate transcriptional enhancers, while the Martens lab will study the interplay of cargo receptors in aggrephagy, a process in which protein aggregates are selectively degraded in cells. The two projects are funded with €690,000 and €630,000, respectively.
Don't judge a book by its cover
Just like animals and humans, worms exhibit individual – but reproducible – behaviors, ranging from inactive to explorative tendencies. Interestingly, individuals of the marine worm Platynereis dumerilii exhibit behavioral arrhythmicity despite showing robust daily rhythms in gene expression. In their new study recently published in PLOS Biology, Perutz PI Kristin Tessmar-Raible together with first author Sören Häfker and their collaborators contend that rhythmic worms can be distinguished from their arrhythmic siblings by the types of cycling transcripts. The work implies that rhythmic behavior is not necessarily the product of circadian clock gene oscillations, as has widely been assumed.
Seeing the unseeable
Born in Germany, Jonas Ries studied physics in Bremen and Konstanz. Soon afterwards, he merged physics with biology, obtaining his PhD in biophysics in Dresden. After his post-doctoral tenure at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zurich, he accepted the role of a group leader at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg. In 2023, Jonas was appointed Professor of Advanced Microscopy and Cellular Dynamics at the University of Vienna and started his group at the Perutz in January 2024. In our interview, Jonas talked about his passion for super-resolution microscopy and his goal to accelerate research by turning smart ideas into technologies.
Mass Spec-tacular: Proteomics at the Perutz
The Perutz hosts a range of scientific facilities to support research groups in-house, on the Vienna BioCenter Campus, and beyond with cutting-edge equipment and expertise. Among these, the Mass Spectrometry (MS) facility offers a wide range of intact mass and proteomics services. In the first part of our ‘Scientific Facilities - Behind the Scenes’ series, we introduce the MS facility team and their expert services, from client consultation to sample preparations.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship for postdoc Rupert Faraway
The EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions will support Rupert Faraway, joint postdoc with Perutz group leader Stefan Ameres and Clemens Plaschka (IMP), to study the mechanism that allows the singling out of mature messenger RNA in a cell’s nucleus. The prestigious individual fellowship will fund research that will add to the strong RNA community at the Vienna BioCenter.
Funding for two interdisciplinary projects to 'understand biology with AI'
In their recent call ‘Understanding biology with Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning’ the Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF) approved two interdisciplinary projects with participation from Max Perutz Labs scientists. Perutz group leader Jonas Ries coordinates the project ‘DynRec’ with Jakob Macke from the University of Tübingen to investigate endocytosis. In the project ‘RiboAI’, coordinated by Ivo Hofacker from the University of Vienna, Perutz group leader Stefan Ameres studies mRNA features impacting translation and stability. Each grant is endowed with more than €799,000 for three and four years, respectively.
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