People

Research Areas:

• Mechanisms and functions of small RNAs in bacterial pathogens
• Discovery and characterization of bacterial RNA binding proteins and small proteins
• Virulence mechanisms and control of bacterial pathogens
• Deep sequencing approaches and humanized three-dimensional infections models

Research Areas:

• Genome maintenance mechanisms
• Structure and function of eukaryotic DNA repair enzymes
• Structure based drug design, Ubiquitin system and disease

Research Areas:

• Structure and function of macromolecular machines acting on RNA
• Discovery and characterization of RNA-binding proteins
• RNA biology of viruses (HIV-1, poxviruses)
• RNA biology and neuronal diseases

Research Areas:

• Chemical biology of native nucleic acid modifications
• In vitro evolution of ribozymes and deoxyribozymes
• Ribozyme structures and mechanisms
• Bioorthogonal chemistry for nucleic acid modification and labeling
• Design and sysnthesis of modified oligonucleotides

Research Areas:

• Antisense technology to selectively eliminate and modulate microbes
• Prokaryotic RNA binding proteins
• Microbioal single-cell RNA sequencing
• Jumbo phage biology

Research Areas:

• Nucleic acid sensing receptors and signaling cascades
• Innate immune responses and programmed cell death pathways
• Antiviral immunity and inflammatory responses
• Genetic screens to identify key regulators of immune functions
• Biochemistry and molecular biology

Research Areas:

• Stuctural biology of the ribosome
• Molecular basis of eukaryotic ribosome biogenesis
• Translational regulation and quality control

Research Areas:

• Origin of nucleic acids on the early earth
• Chemistry and biochemistry on non-canonical DNA and RNA nucleosides
• Development of new nucleosides therapeutics with immunological or epigenetics modes of actions
• Development of oligonucleotide therapeutics using click-chemistry

Research Areas:

• Molecular mechanisms of mRNA decay
• Biochemistry
• Structural biology and biophysics

Research Areas:

• Structural genome biology and cryo-electron microscopy
• Genome maintenance
• Chromatin remodeling
• Innate immune DNA sensing

Research Areas:

• Mechanisms and antiviral functions of innate immunity in HIV infection
• Multi-gene editing in primary HIV target cells
• Virulence mechanisms
• SAMHD1: Discovery, characterization and inhibitor development in chemoresistance in cancer

Research Areas:

• Genetic determinants of human immune response variation
• Genetic ancetry effects on the human immune system
• Genetic regulation during perinatal immune cell development
• Gene-environment interactions and prediction models of human immune reposiveness

Research Areas:

• Mechanisms and functions of histone chaperones in genome dynamics
• Discovery and biology of poly-ADP-ribose nucleic acid signaling mechanisms
• Allosteric control of gene activity by transcriptional metabolite receptors
• Drug discovery and engineering of nucleic acids

Research Areas:

• Non-coding RNA and RNA-based therapeutics
• Macrophages as targets in cardiac and pulmonary disease
• Cardiac and pulmonary autonomic innervation

Research Areas:

• Mechanisms of nucleic acid recognition by the innate immune system
• Discovery of novel nucleic acid second messengers and signaling pathways
• Mechanistic and functional characterization of nucleotidyltransferases
• Cryo-electron microscopy of small nucleic acid protein complexes

Research Areas:

• Role and function of long non-coding RNAs in the cardiovascular system
• Therapeutic targeting of non-coding RNAs for vascular cell therapy
• Spatial RNA in situ sequencing of human cardiovascular diseased tissue
• Oragnoid and organ-on-chip modelling of vascular disease for drug development

Research Areas:

• RNA formulation and delivery
• Inhalation therapy
• Polymer synthesis and material science
• Machine learning-based formulation development

Research Areas:

• Human pluripotent stem cell models of cardiac development and disease
• Human cardiac progenitors for cell therapy and regeneration
• CRISPR/Cas9 based genome editing of cardiac cells

Research Areas:

• Innate immune sensing of viruses
• Cellular perturbation of cellular signaling by viral infections
• Multi-omics analysis of virus-host interactions
• Intervention strategies to mitigate virus infections

Research Areas:

• Virus-host interaction of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and SARS-CoV-2
• Discovery of non-cytotoxic control of persistence of HBV DNA in the nucleus of infected cells
• Preclinical/early clinical development of therapeutic vaccination and T-cell therapy to cure HBV
• siRNA and mRNA-based therapies for chronic viral infections

Research Areas:

• Molecular cancer evolution with a focus on transformation, metastasis and drug resistance in digestive tract cancers
• Disease mdoelling using forward and reverse genetics in cells and mice
• Development of genetic screening tools and methods
• Analysis of non-coding RNA function in cancer

Research Areas:

• Integrative structural biology of protein and protein-RNA complexes
• Alternative splicing
• Non-coding RNA structure/function
• Chaperones and peroxisome biogenesis
• Structure-based drug discovery

Research Areas:

• Biomedical Artificial Intelligence
• Machine learning

Research Areas:

• Mechanisms underlying reprogramming to totipotency
• Transposable elements and (epi)genome function
• Epigenetic reprogramming in early mammalian development
• Nuclear organization and chromatin structure in early embryos and stem cells

Research Areas:

• Nucleic acid-based regulation of bacterial virulence (Clostridioides difficile)
• Molecular host-pathogen interactions in intestinal infections
• RNA-centered targets for novel anti-infective therapies

Research Areas:

• Chromosome organization and dynamics in eukaryotes
• Role of structural Maintenance of Chromosomes (SMC) family of protein complexes (cohesin/condensin) in genome folding
• Structural and biochemical mechanisms of chromatin architecture

Research Areas:

• RNA regulation and modification
• Roles and molecular mechanisms of RNA in cellular functions and diseases (neurodegeneration and cancer)
• Mechanisms of splicing regulation in disease
• RNA quality control

Research Areas:

• Single-cell RNA analysis of host-pathogen interactions
• High-resolution transcriptomic and computational methods
• Single-cell genomics and imaging to address heterogeneity of host responses and disease outcomes

Research Areas:

• RNA biology of anaerobic gut commensals
• Host-microbe interaction studies
• Advanced cross-species RNA-seq approaches
• Hypoxic tissue models for bacterial colonization

Research Areas:

• Computational analysis of RNA regulation and gene expression
• RNA splicing in health and disease
• Cytoplasmic RNA regulation
• RNA Modifications
• DNA damage and genome integrity

Research Areas:

• Predicting antibiotic drug mechanisms by imaging and AI
• Generative AI to find novel antibiotics
• Spatial transcriptomics in high-throughput imaging
• Computational imaging for phenotypic screening

Research Areas:

• Structural biology of viruses
• Cryo-electron tomography of molecular complexes
• Mechanisms of membrane trafficking and cellular architecture

Research Areas:

• Single-cell epigenomics and computational analysis
• Integration of multi-omics data to model epigenetic states
• Epigenetic mechanisms in development, disease, and ageing

Research Areas:

• Post-transcriptional gene regulation in T cells
• Small non-coding RNAs and RNA-binding proteins, endo- or exoribonucleases and complexes of RNA-modifying enzymes
• Development and biology of T cells including quiescence, activation, differentiation, effector function and memory formation

Research Areas:

• Platelet-immune interactions in atherothrombosis
• Mechanisms of arterial and venous thrombosis
• Immune-regulated thrombus formation and resolution

Research Areas:

• Deciphering mRNA modifications, on a transcriptome-wide scale
• SAM Analogues & protein engineering
• Synthetic 5′ caps and mRNA engineering

Research Areas:

• Metabolites, chromatin regulators and signaling networks in health and disease
• 3D genome, protein structures and chromatin-based gene regulation in fungi, parasites, insects and mammals
• Genomic, structural, computational and physiological in vivo approaches

Research Areas:

• Nucleic acid quality control
• Repair of DNA-protein crosslinks
• Resolution of RNA damage

Research Areas:

• Mechanisms of chromatin reprogramming to totipotency in early embryos
• Zygotic genome activation and epigenetic reorganization after fertilization
• Molecular basis of 3D genome structure and its role in development

Research Areas:

• Biomedical and public health ethics
• Research ethics and healthcare justice
• Embedded ethics in clinical and technological development

Research Areas:

• CRISPR-based gene editing technologies
• Gene and cell therapies for cardiovascular disease
• Organoid and disease models for therapy development

Research Areas:

• Protein biogenesis and translation regulation
• Proteome integrity and quality control
• Genome-wide approaches to translation-related disease mechanisms

Research Areas:

• Genomics of complex human diseases
• Computational integration of genomic and epidemiological data
• Precision medicine and risk prediction

Research Areas:

• Machine learning for RNA biology and genomics
• Computational analysis of RNA regulation and interactions
• Multi-omic integration to study disease mechanisms

Research Areas:

• Regulation of splice site selection
• Mechanisms in spliceosome assembly

Research Areas:

• Translational regulation in T cells
• Monogenic ribosomopathies and immunodeficiency, tRNA metabolism, biogenesis, and autoinflammatory disease