Rafal Ciosk
Academic interests
Posttranscriptional regulation of mRNAs is a key aspect of gene expression. Whether a particular mRNA is translated, repressed, or degraded, depends on its interactions with a variety of RNA-binding proteins and regulatory RNAs. We are interested in elucidating how these interactions determine mRNA fates and how posttranscriptional mechanisms control fundamental biological processes. Our research has important biomedical implications for human disorders, including obesity and cancer. Our main experimental models are the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, which has the advantage of a genetically tractable organism, and mammalian cells. Our interdisciplinary approach combines genetics and genomics with molecular biology, through biochemistry and structural biology.
Teaching
BIOS2900 - Molecular biology (co-organizer)
MBV4030 - Methods in cell biology (contributor)
MBV4010 - Methods in molecular biology and biochemistry I (contributor)
Higher education and employment
April 2018- Professor, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Norway
June 2017- Associated professor, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan, Poland
2012-2018 Senior group leader, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland
2006-2012 Junior group leader, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland
2000-2005 Postdoc, the laboratory of Prof. James Priess, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, USA
1998-1999 Postdoc, the laboratory of Prof. Kim Nasmyth, Institute of Molecular Pathology, Vienna, Austria
1995-1998 PhD in genetics, the laboratory of Prof. Kim Nasmyth, Institute of Molecular Pathology, Vienna, Austria
1990-1995 MSc (Diploma) in molecular biology and biotechnology, University of Szeged, Hungary
Selected recent publications
Kumari P, Aeschimann F, Gaidatzis D, Keusch JJ, Ghosh P, Neagu A, Pachulska-Wieczorek K, Bujnicki JM, Gut H, Großhans H, and Ciosk R. (2018) Evolutionary plasticity of the NHL domain underlies distinct solutions to RNA recognition. Nature Commun 9(1): 1549.
Fassnacht C, Tocchini C, Kumari P, Gaidatzis D, Stadler MB, and Ciosk R (2018). The CSR-1 endogenous RNAi pathway ensures accurate transcriptional reprogramming during the oocyte-to-embryo transition in Caenorhabditis elegans. PLoS Genet 14(3): e1007252.
Aeschimann F, Kumari P, Bartake H, Gaidatzis D, Ciosk R, and Großhans H (2017). LIN41 post-transcriptionally silences mRNAs by two distinct and position-dependent mechanisms. Mol Cell 65, 476-89.
Habacher C, Guo Y, Venz R, Kumari P, Neagu A, Gaidatzis D, Harvald E, Færgeman N, Gut H, and Ciosk R (2016). Ribonuclease-mediated control of body fat. Dev Cell 39, 359-69.
Seelk S, Kalchhauser I, Hargitai B, Hajduskova M, Gutnik S, Tursun B, and Ciosk R (2016). Increasing Notch signaling antagonizes PRC2-mediated silencing to promote reprogramming of germ cells into neurons. eLife 5: e15477.