Dr. Alison Kickuth was awarded the Otto Hahn Medal from the Max Planck Society in recognition of her outstanding scientific achievements as a former PhD student from the Jan Brugués Group. During her PhD project on the “Physical Mechanism of Unilateral Cytokinesis”, she used “biophysical tools to investigate how an incomplete contractile ring, a temporary cellular structure that “pinches” a dividing cell into two daughter cells, can still drive cell division in early zebrafish embryos.” according to the MPI-CBG website. Kickuth also added that their work “uncovers a mechanical ratchet mechanism, in which the cytoplasm alternates between stiff and fluid states, enabling a contractile ring without loose ends to progressively divide the cell” and that the “work solves a fundamental physical problem in vertebrate development.”

Prof. Brugués is currently recruiting a PhD candidate for the Project B5, in the framework of the RTG 3120 “Biomolecular Condensates”. Click here to apply!

Stephan Grill, MPI-CBG Director and supervisor of thesis project A5 in the RTG 3120, has been awarded 2,5 million euros from the European Research Council as part of the Advanced Grants call for the duration of 5 years to fund the project SDSF: “DNA Sequence-Dependent Structure Formation in the Cell Nucleus”

This project “connects biology with physics and theory with experiment, aiming to build a physical theory of genome organization across scales. It will bring an understanding of how DNA sequences control structure formation processes inside the cell nucleus, with broad implications for development and disease.”, according to the MPI-CBG Website.

The ERC-funded project complements the RTG-funded project A5 which aims to understand how condensates respond to mechanical forces and how condensate-mediated capillary forces influence the shape and organization of biopolymers. It will lay the groundwork for the ERC project. Project A5 is currently still recruiting a PhD candidate. click to apply.

The RTG announces with great pleasure that our co-speaker Prof Dr. Simon Alberti is now a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. More details about the distinction can be found on the webpages of TU Dresden and Leopoldina.

According to the Leopoldina website: “The Academy selects its members among outstanding scientists. Since its foundation over 8,000 individuals were appointed members. These include, among others, Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Alexander von Humboldt, Justus von Liebig and Max Planck.” and “The Leopoldina is the largest among German science academies with a base of about 1,700 members from more than 30 countries.”

The mission of the academy is “to identify and analyse scientific issues of social importance. The Leopoldina presents its policy recommendations in a scientifically qualified, independent, transparent and prospective manner”