Scientific Advisory Board

Prof. Peter Becker (Chair)

Biomedical Center Munich, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Germany

Peter Becker is Acting Director of the Biomedical Center Munich and heads the Molecular Biology Division. His research focusses on understanding the dynamics of chromatin organisation and its influence on gene expression and DNA repair. In particular, his group is interested in the physiological roles and mechanism of action of nucleosome remodelling factors, and in understanding the chromosome-wide gene regulation that underlies dosage compensation in Drosophila.

Prof. Bradley Cairns

Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA

Professor Bradley Cairns is an HHMI investigator at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. He investigates how chromatin structure helps regulate gene transcription. To do this he characterises the large protein complexes that are responsible for remodeling and modifying chromosomal structure, and studies how these chromatin-regulatory complexes function in living cells. He also studies how chromatin structure and DNA methylation contribute to pluripotency in germ cells and early embryos.

Prof. Malene Hansen

Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, USA

Malene Hansen is a Professor and Chief Scientific Officer at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. She is a global leader in the field of ageing research, with a particular focus on cellular autophagy. Malene’s lab works to decipher how autophagy declines with ageing, and the underlying genes that regulate these changes. Her work is the first step towards the discovery of new treatments to treat age-related diseases, extend human lifespan and promote healthy ageing.

Prof. Ian Hickson

Center for Chromosome Stability and Center for Healthy Aging, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Ian Hickson is the Director of the DNRF Center for Chromosome Stability, Theme Leader in the Center for Healthy Aging and a Professor of Molecular Aging in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is a leading expert in DNA repair factors in eukaryotic cells, and his lab studies how these factors act to maintain genome stability. He is particularly interested in genes which when mutated lead to defective genome maintenance, causing genetic disorders of premature ageing, cancer, neurodegeneration or infertility.

Prof. Rudolf Jaenisch

The Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, USA

Rudolf Jaenisch is Professor of Biology at the Whitehead Institute and the Department of Biology, MIT. He generated the first transgenic mice carrying exogenous DNA in the germ line and was the first to use insertional mutagenesis to identify developmental genes. He has defined molecular mechanisms that are crucial for nuclear reprogramming and most recently has used direct reprogramming of somatic cells to generate “induced Pluripotent Stem” (iPS) cells.

Prof. Ruth Lehmann

The Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, USA

Ruth Lehmann is an HHMI Investigator, the president and director of the Whitehead Institute, and Professor of Biology at MIT. Her lab focusses on the development of the Drosophila germ line. She is particularly interested in understanding the role of RNA localisation and translation in germ cell specification and fate decisions. Additionally, her group is currently studying the migration of primordial germ cells, as well as investigating mechanisms that protect the genome from damage in the germ line.

Prof. Marina Rodnina

Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany

Marina is the Director of Physical Biochemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. She is best known for her work in deciphering the dynamics of ribosome function. Her lab investigates how different components of the ribosome interact and communicate with each other to facilitate the movement of tRNAs and mRNA through the ribosome during translation. In particular, she is interested in how these ribosomal reactions ensure that mRNAs are translated into proteins accurately and rapidly.