Jürgen Knoblich

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Jürgen Knoblich.jpg
Cross-section of a complete cerebral organoid with different brain regions. Cells are shown in blue, neural stem cells in red, and neurons in green.

Jürgen Knoblich (born October 24, 1963 in Memmingen ) is a German molecular biologist .

Life

Jürgen Knoblich studied biochemistry at the University of Tübingen , molecular biology at University College London and in 1989 moved to the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, where he received his doctorate in 1994 . From 1994 to 1997 he was a post-doctoral student at the University of California, San Francisco . After his return to Europe, he became a group leader at the Research Institute for Molecular Pathology in Vienna, where he was promoted to Senior Scientist. Since 2005 he has been working at the Institute for Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) in Vienna, where he was deputy scientific director under Josef Penninger and became scientific director. He teaches regularly at the University of Vienna .

Services

Knoblich is a member of several scientific societies, on the Editorial Board of Current Biology and the European Journal of Cell Biology . He is a member of the advisory board of the cancer stem cell network of the German Cancer Aid . He has written 99 original publications ( PubMed October 2014).

In 2013, Jürgen Knoblich and his team synthesized a brain organoid for the first time , which simulates the early stages of human brain development in an organ culture. First author of the associated paper, postdoc Madeline A. Lancaster was decisive for the success of the study and received the “Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators” as recognition. With the publication in Nature, the researchers also made it into the top 10 scientific discoveries of 2013. These so-called 'organoids' enable scientists to efficiently transfer knowledge from fruit flies to humans. In this way, they make it possible for the first time to examine hereditary diseases of the brain in a human organ culture. The scientists want to use this technology to research other brain defects and diseases in the future.

Knoblich also deals with neural stem cells , their asymmetrical cell division and growth control. This field of work is of particularly high medical relevance because until recently it was unclear how a stem cell can divide into an (identical) stem cell and at the same time into a developed cell. This mechanism was elucidated by Jürgen Knoblich and his team and presented in the science journal Cell in 2008. The asymmetrical division works like a chain of molecular switches that are turned on one behind the other. These switches are proteins, “on” and “off” correspond to the state with or without a phosphate group attached to them. A kinase , the carrier of the phosphate residue, is the starter. At the beginning of the asymmetrical cell division there is the activation of a very specific kinase, namely the aurora kinase A. This kinase is known to be overexpressed in certain tumor cells . Other molecules that contribute to asymmetrical cell division also play a role in tumor development. Since (stem) cell division is regulated similarly in all organisms, the results in flies can be transferred to tumor development in humans.

In another research area, Knoblich was able to show that it was possible for the first time to investigate the functions of genes across the entire genome of an organism at the same time. Molecular biological methods were used in a fruit fly gene database, in which each of the around 13,000 genes of the fly can be switched "on" and "off". These results were published in 2009 in the journal Nature . With this method, Knoblich succeeded in shedding light on the development of tumors, especially in the brain of the fruit fly. According to a recent finding, tumors can also consist of stem cells which, through a misdirected mechanism, retain their stem cell properties and continue to divide inexorably instead of differentiating into other cell types. Jürgen Knoblich and his group identified the “Brat” gene, which is responsible for this mechanism. How many other genes there are that fulfill a similar function in humans is not yet known. The research group at the Institute for Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) is working on identifying other such genes as well, in order to be able to develop the least invasive therapy against cancer in the future.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Management - IMBA - Institute for Molecular Biotechnology . Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  2. ↑ Jürgen Knoblich in the course catalog of the University of Vienna
  3. ↑ Press release from Eppendorf ( Memento from August 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Science Magazin Top 10 Scientific Discoveries 2013
  5. ↑ Tumor stem cells as the key to cancer therapy ( Memento of February 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), press release of the Austrian Academy of Sciences of March 24, 2006
  6. ↑ Viennese researchers solve riddles about stem cells. ORF , October 3, 2008, archived from the original on July 20, 2012 ; accessed on July 25, 2020 .
  7. ↑ How stem cells divide - a puzzle is solved ; Press release on an article in Cell, October 2, 2008.
  8. ↑ Key regulator of brain development discovered , IMBA press release of March 5, 2009
  9. ↑ Clarification of all gene functions is within reach. IMBA press release on April 13, 2009
  10. ↑ Jürgen Knoblich. In: scilog. FWF , accessed on February 23, 2017 .
  11. ↑ ERC Advanced Grant for Jürgen Knoblich. Retrieved July 2, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Directory of members: Jürgen Arthur Knoblich. Academia Europaea, accessed July 31, 2017 (English, with biographical and other information).
  13. ^ Austrian Academy of Sciences, New Members of the OeAW 2013 (PDF; 18 kB), accessed May 3, 2013
  14. ↑ Scientist Jürgen Knoblich receives ERC grant. Retrieved July 2, 2020 .
  15. ↑ ERC Grant for Jürgen Knoblich. Retrieved July 2, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Knoblich, Jürgen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German molecular biologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 24, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Memmingen