2024-03-14 08:25:05
The 58-year-old American biochemist Elly Tanaka will take over the long-vacant management of the Institute for Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) of the Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) in Vienna from April 1st. The replacement became necessary as a result of the departure of IMBA founding director Josef Penninger in 2018. Since then, the institute has been headed on an interim basis by Jürgen Knoblich, who also applied for the head position advertised in 2022.
The scientist, born on August 22, 1965 in Boston (USA), joined the Research Institute for Molecular Pathology (IMP) not far from the IMBA at the Vienna BioCenter in Vienna-Landstrasse in 2016. Her appointment follows “the suggestion of an independent search committee” consisting of well-known researchers, according to a statement from the academy on Thursday, which Tanaka will present to media representatives on Thursday morning as part of a “Science Update”.
The scientist came to the IMP as a “senior group leader” following studying at Harvard University and the University of California in San Francisco, among others, and working at University College London and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden. She has been dedicating herself to researching the regeneration of complex body structures for some time. The Mexican tailed amphibian axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) serves as a model organism. The animal, which is generally considered a regeneration miracle, can regrow lost body parts including the nervous system.
Tanaka regularly publishes in top-class specialist journals and has already received two “Advanced Grants” worth up to 2.5 million euros for her work, as well as a “Synergy Grant” worth around ten million euros last year as part of a cooperation project with several partners. European Research Council (ERC) funding award. The new IMBA head is a real member of the ÖAW and was admitted to the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2023. ÖAW President Heinz Faßmann praised Tanaka as an “outstanding scientist” whose research “gives many people hope.”
The IMBA is a basic research institution that was founded in 1999 through a cooperation agreement between the ÖAW and the Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP). The first research groups began work in 2003. The Austrian geneticist Josef Penninger became the founding director in 2002. When he moved to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver (Canada) in 2018, Jürgen Knoblich took over the management of the IMBA on an interim basis. Today it is the largest institute of the Academy of Sciences with over 200 employees from numerous countries.
The 14 research groups are active in the areas of stem cell research, in particular organoid research, which Knoblich played a leading role in developing at the institute, as well as research into the organization of genetic material and RNA biology. “My scientific vision is closely aligned with the research topics pursued at the IMBA,” said Tanaka, who thanked her predecessors Penninger and Knoblich, “who have led the institute on a successful growth path in recent years.”
(S E R V I C E – https://www.oeaw.ac.at/imba/home)
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