People

Andi studied biochemistry (1998-2002) in Regensburg, Germany, and molecular and cellular biology (2002-2004) at the Ruprecht-Karls University of Heidelberg in Germany. For her PhD, Andi joined the labs of Kim Nasmyth and Barry Dickson as a joint Ph.D. student at the IMP in Vienna, Austria to uncover post-mitotic functions for cohesin in Drosophila. In 2006, Andi moved with Kim’s lab to Oxford, UK where she obtained her D.Phil. (2009) and became an avid rower. For her post-doctoral studies (2009-2015), Andi traded flies for fish and joined Alex Schier’s lab at Harvard University, USA. Since 2015, Andi has had her own lab at the IMP, first as a junior group leader and since 2022 as a senior group leader. Andi’s lab has been funded by the ERC, the FWF START Prize and a FWF-funded SFB RNADeco, the HFSP organization, the EMBO Young Investigator Programme (EMBO YIP), and a Whitman Center Fellowship from the Marine Biological Labs in addition to core funding from the IMP and Boehringer Ingelheim.

Andreas graduated from the University of Hamburg in Molecular Life Sciences (B.Sc.) in 2016. Here, he first approached developmental biology in the labs of Peter Bommert and Arp Schnittger. Andreas then moved to Tübingen, Germany, where he completed his Biochemistry studies (M.Sc.) at the Eberhard Karls University in January 2019. For his thesis, he studied kinase activity during meiotic recombination in yeast in John Weir’s lab at the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society. In the Pauli lab, Andreas is interested in studying the process of fertilization. Andreas was awarded a Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds PhD fellowship for his PhD studies in 2020. In his spare time, Andreas likes to travel; the best locations are those where he can use his skis as well.

Anastasia studied biochemistry and molecular biology at Lomonosov Moscow State University (2009-2014). Her diploma project focused on understanding structural features of Hansenula polymorpha TERT (Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase). Already during her diploma studies Anastasia became interested in the function of newly predicted peptides in eukaryotic cells – a topic she decided to pursue for her PhD during which she investigated the function of a mitochondrial peptide encoded by a misannotated lncRNA, LINC00116/Mitoregulin. Anastasia joined the Pauli lab in March 2019 to investigate mitochondrial functionality and co-regulation of mitochondrial and cytoplasmic translation during development. Anastasia was awarded the VIP2 fellowship and the Marie Sklodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellowship for her studies in the Pauli lab. In her free time, Anastasia enjoys reading detective stories, knitting and snowboarding.

Victoria pursued her undergraduate studies at the University of Notre Dame in USA where she graduated with a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering in 2013. For her PhD, she joined Stefano Di Talia’s lab to study cell cycle synchronization in Drosophila development at Duke University, USA. Victoria received several honors and awards including an HHMI International Student Research Fellowship, a Schlumberger Faculty for the Future Fellowship, a Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds Travel Grant and the prestigious Weintraub award for her PhD studies. She joined the Pauli lab in September of 2019, where she will be studying mechanisms of gamete binding and fusion in zebrafish. Victoria was awarded the HFSP postdoctoral fellowship for her studies in the Pauli lab. In her free time, Victoria enjoys dancing, crafting DIY projects and learning about different cultures through cooking and music.

After his Masters in Molecular Biology at the University of Vienna in 2011, Jörg switched from wet-lab to dry-lab and joined the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology/Theoretical Biochemistry research group of Ivo L. Hofacker for his PhD. Investigating RNA-protein interactions, RNA regulation and regulatory networks, he developed a keen interest in computational analysis of high-throughput data. In 2016 he joined the Bioinformatics Group of Peter F. Stadler at the IZBI of the University of Leipzig as a PostDoc associated with the German network for bioinformatics infrastructure (de.NBI). He continued his work in RNA bioinformatics with a focus on non-coding RNAs and the processes and mechanisms behind the regulation of gene expression, especially on the level of RNA, RNA secondary structure and the plethora of interactions shaping this level. As member of the Pauli & Obenauf labs, Jörg will continue as embedded Bioinformatician to develop pipelines and tools for Omics data analysis and integration in a very exciting setting. In his spare time Jörg likes to lift some weights, travel with his familiy and engage with nature and visit a Heurigen or two.

Laura studied biology in Valencia, Spain (2007-2012). She then obtained a master’s degree in Plant Biology and Biotechnology from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. For her PhD (20015-2019), Laura joined Michael Hothorn’s laboratory at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, to investigate the metabolism of inorganic polyphosphates in plants. During her PhD, Laura discovered a bicistronic transcript controlling the expression of a cell cycle regulator. In parallel, she uncovered a novel polyphosphate-binding domain using structural biology and quantitative biochemistry. Her findings sparked her interest in translational regulation, a topic which she will focus on during her postdoctoral studies in the Pauli lab. Laura was awarded a SNF postdoctoral fellowship, the EMBO postdoctoral fellowship and the Marie Sklodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellowship for her studies in the Pauli lab.

Karin studied Molecular Biotechnology for her master’s degree at the University of Applied Sciences in Vienna (2006-2011). During that time, Karin performed her master’s thesis work in Cambridge working with neurogenetics in Drosophila. She continued working with fruit flies in the Straw lab at the IMP, dissecting and staining thousands of fly brains. Joining the Pauli lab in 2015, she now takes care of thousands of zebrafish. She also works on characterizing selected small peptides involved in zebrafish development. Karin has a deep love for jellyfish and enjoys going to the theater, reading crime novels, and avoiding vegetables at all costs.

Carina obtained a BSc in Biology (2011) and a MSc in Genetics and Developmental Biology (2014) from the University of Vienna. For her Master’s thesis, she studied gene regulatory elements in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis in the Technau lab. Afterwards, she continued working with Nematostella in Vienna and Bergen. In 2016, Carina joined the Vienna Biocenter as a research assistant (Bell lab, IMBA), focusing on Polycomb biology in mouse embryonic stem cells. In the Pauli lab, Carina works on translational regulation in zebrafish. In her free time, she enjoys playing billiards and singing in a choir.

Josef received a BSc in Biology in 2019 and an MSc in 2022 from the University of Vienna. During his studies, Josef joined the lab of Luisa Cochella at the IMP to study neuronal development in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. For his master’s thesis, he switched topics and worked on therapy resistance in breast cancer in the lab of Jos Jonkers at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam. By joining the Pauli lab in February 2022, Josef returned to the IMP and the field of developmental biology and is interested in translational inhibition in the early zebrafish embryo and different somatic cell types. In his free time, he likes to do sports, cooking, baking and listening to music.

Marcus studied genetics at the University of Vienna, where he first approached developmental biology in the Genikhovich Group, working on the role of Wnt- and BMP-signaling in axis formation in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis. Building the bridge between his interests, he studied developmental biology and genetics with a focus on cancer and disease at the University of Vienna. He completed his Master studies in the Distel group at the Children’s Cancer Research Institute of Vienna (CCRI), where he established a NUP-98 fusion mediated acute myeloid leukemia model in zebrafish. After obtaining his master’s degree in 2020, Marcus helped to develop a platform for NGS-based Covid-19 mutation monitoring in Austria, assuring the nationwide Covid-19 variant surveillance. In the Pauli lab, Marcus is working with Laura on translational regulation.

Johannes studied Biochemistry at the University of Regensburg, Germany. He received his bachelor’s degree in 2020 and his master’s degree in 2023. In 2021, during his master’s, Johannes studied for one semester at the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA. There, he joined the lab of Jim Goodrich and Jennifer Kugel to learn about single molecule fluorescence microscopy. For his master’s thesis, he joined the lab of Alessandro Vannini at the Human Technopole in Milan, Italy. For his thesis, he worked on the structural biology of the human condensin complex. In the Pauli lab, Johannes is interested in studying the biochemistry of fertilization. In his free time, Johannes enjoys cooking and playing in an orchestra.

Lalitha is from India and finished undergrad education there in April 2019 before moving to the Netherlands in 2020 for her master’s. During her master’s, she worked on projects in the areas of mRNA transcription, splicing and decay regulation. Captivated by gene expression regulation, Lalitha joined the Pauli lab in November 2022 to work on understanding translation regulation in early embryonic development in Zebrafish. Beside the scientific aspect of biology, she also cares deeply about science education and communication. Outside science, Lalitha enjoys cooking, reading, running, and painting.