Scientists at IMBA are passionate about discovery and advancing our understanding of biology. They are recognized leaders in their fields, regularly publishing in the top research journals. Contributions from IMBA research groups are of interest to everyone – including scientists, clinicians, and the public. The Research Highlights below summarize some of the most significant discoveries made by IMBA scientists.
Jürgen Knoblich now in ISSCR Board of Directors
About Jürgen Knoblich
Jürgen Knoblich was appointed IMBA’s Scientific Director in 2018. His research group at IMBA was established in 2004, when he joined as senior scientist.
Knoblich was granted several prestigious prizes such as the Wittgenstein Award, the Schroedinger Prize, the FEBS Anniversary Prize as well as two Advanced Research Grants from the ERC. He is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), the Academia Europaea and the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Jürgen Knoblich and his research lab are also part of LifeTime, a pan-European initiative to revolutionize healthcare by applying breakthrough technologies to the progression of human diseases and intends to find and implement new methods for personalized prevention, early diagnosis and treatment.
About the research
Knoblich’s work focuses on understanding the mechanisms of human brain development. Initially, he was using the fruit fly Drosophila as model organism, in order to investigate the molecular mechanisms guiding brain development and pathogenesis. His lab achieved a breakthrough in 2013, when they successfully cultivated the worldwide first organoid model of early human brain development, termed “Cerebral Organoids”. The novel technology led to a paradigm shift, as cerebral organoids mimic early human brain development in an astoundingly precise way. This opens the door to neurodevelopmental studies and targeted analyses of human neurological disorders which are otherwise not possible.
More on Knoblich: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jürgen_Knoblich
About IMBA
IMBA - Institute of Molecular Biotechnology - is one of the leading biomedical research institutes in Europe focusing on cutting-edge stem cell technologies, functional genomics, and RNA biology. IMBA is located at the Vienna BioCenter, the vibrant cluster of universities, research institutes and biotech companies in Austria. IMBA is a subsidiary of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the leading national sponsor of non-university academic research. The stem cell and organoid research at IMBA is being funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and the City of Vienna.