Rafal Ciosk
Academic interests
I have been interested in gene regulation, particularly posttranscriptional. Whether a specific mRNA is translated, repressed, or degraded, depends on its interactions with RNA-binding proteins and regulatory RNAs. My laboratory studies how these interactions determine mRNA fate and how posttranscriptional mechanisms control fundamental biological processes. Our main experimental models are the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (a genetically tractable model) and mammalian cells, which we study using genetics, genomics, biochemistry, and cell biology.
In future research, we will continue investigating novel mechanisms of mRNA regulation. Additionally, we will study molecular mechanisms facilitating cold survival, with exciting biomedical implications.
Teaching
BIOS2900 - Molecular biology (co-organizer)
MBV4030 - Methods in cell biology (contributor)
MBV4010 - Methods in molecular biology and biochemistry I (contributor)
BIOS3601 - Genetics and developmental biology (contributor)
Higher education and appointments
2018-now Professor, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo
2020-now Associate Investigator, Centre for Molecular Medicine Norway in Oslo
2017-now Associate Professor, Inst. of Bioorganic Chemistry PAS in Poznan, Poland
2012-18 Senior group leader, Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, Switzerland
2006-12 Junior group leader, Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, Switzerland
2000-05 Postdoc with Jim Priess, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Res. Center in Seattle, USA
1998-99 Postdoc with Kim Nasmyth, Inst. of Molecular Pathology in Vienna, Austria
1995-98 Ph.D. student with Kim Nasmyth, Inst. of Molecular Pathology in Vienna, Austria
1990-95 M.Sc. studies at the 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.