Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP)

A team of researchers around IMP Scientific Director Jan-Michael Peters investigated DNA folding in a highly specialised cell type: sperm. Their study, published in the journal Genome Research, reveals a distinct three-dimensional genome organisation that folds DNA very densely, setting vertebrate sperm apart from other cell types. The findings prompt further exploration into the role of certain proteins in shaping the sperm genome.

Animal genomes harbour thousands of genes. Within the genome, DNA sequences called ‘enhancers’ activate gene expression in a tissue-specific manner. The lab of Alexander Stark has made it their mission to investigate the ‘grammar rules’ that link an enhancer’s sequence and its activity. In a study now published in the journal Genome Research, they show that enhancer activity is encoded through a combination of their sequence motifs’ identity and context.

Oliver Hendy, a PhD student in the lab of Alex Stark, is in the last stages of his doctoral studies. For his thesis, he studied how a group of proteins called ‘chromatin remodelers’ change the way DNA is packaged, and how this modulates gene transcription in fruit fly cells. In his latest work, now published in the journal Molecular Cell, he found that two major sets of genes require the help of distinct chromatin remodelers to be transcribed.

The successful candidate will engineer human cell lines using CRISPR-Cas9 and learn how to acquire and analyze super-resolution microscopy data using a state-of-the-art MINFLUX microscope. He/she will investigate the spatial organization of mRNA processes in cells at an unprecedented resolution, and further be exposed to a variety of molecular biology techniques and microscopy methods.

The successful candidate will carry out research on an essential multi-subunit complex involved in mRNA processing. He/she will be exposed to a variety of molecular biology techniques, including biochemical preparation of the complex from insect cells (cloning, purification), structure determination by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), and functional assays.

The Obenauf group at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) offers exciting research opportunities in the context of the VIP2 International Postdoc Program for individuals with a PhD degree in immunology, cancer biology, molecular biology, or gene regulation, and a strong interest in tumour immunology.