(Vienna, 10 April 2026) Danny Nedialkova took up the professorship (§98) in biochemistry at MedUni Vienna on 1 April 2026. The expert in translation, proteostasis and cellular quality control was most recently Associate Professor for Biochemistry of Gene Expression at the Technical University of Munich and headed a research group at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry. She is taking over a research group at the Max Perutz Labs of MedUni Vienna and the University of Vienna.
Danny Nedialkova joins the Max Perutz Labs from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, where she has led the ‘Mechanisms of Protein Biogenesis’ research group since 2017. With her internationally recognized expertise in RNA biology and translation regulation, she strengthens the institute’s research focus on the fundamental mechanisms controlling cellular physiology and their perturbation in disease settings.
Proteins are the central executors of almost all biological processes. However, cells do not merely ‘make’ proteins but translate genetic information into proteomes that are finely tuned to cell identity, developmental stage, and environmental conditions. Danny Nedialkova’s research seeks to define the principles that ensure robust translation under these shifting demands. Her group investigates how gene expression machineries assemble into functional systems, how translational disturbances are sensed and contained, and how defective or excess components are cleared to maintain cellular homeostasis. Focusing on defined human cell states, including human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and differentiated lineages, the team uses scalable genetic perturbations and quantitative approaches to understand why certain perturbations are buffered in some contexts but not in others, and how cells restore – or fail to restore – proteome integrity.
“I am very excited to join the Max Perutz Labs,” says Danny Nedialkova. “The institute combines outstanding research in mechanistic cell biology across scales with a strong collaborative culture and core infrastructure that enables discovery. It is an exceptional and inspiring place to advance our work on how cells make proteins and safeguard their integrity, and how defects in these processes drive human disease.”
From Code to Protein: Translational Regulation and Quality Control
Danny Nedialkova’s group at the Max Perutz Labs studies how cells keep protein production accurate, adaptable, and stable under different biological conditions.
Their research centres on translation, the process by which cells convert genetic information into proteins, and asks three main questions: how the cellular machinery for gene expression is assembled into functional systems, how disturbances in translation are detected and controlled, and how faulty or excess components are cleared to preserve cellular homeostasis. A key interest is context dependence — why the same disruption can be tolerated in some cell states but causes major protein homeostasis problems in others.
To investigate this, the group works with defined human cell states, especially hiPSCs and differentiated cell types, and compares how translation and quality-control systems operate across these contexts. They combine scalable genetic perturbations with quantitative analyses to examine how cells adjust translational output, activate quality-control pathways, and either restore proteome integrity or undergo proteostasis failure. They then follow up important findings with targeted genetic and biochemical experiments to uncover the molecular mechanisms behind the observed effects.
About
Danny Nedialkova received an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2025 to investigate how tRNA integrity maintains the flow of genetic information and how its loss reshapes translation and cell fate. The award builds on her previous distinctions, including an ERC Starting Grant and the EMBO Young Investigator Award, and provides a strong foundation as she launches her research program at the Perutz.
Danny Nedialkova obtained her PhD in molecular virology from Leiden University (The Netherlands) and carried out postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine (Germany). In 2017, she established her independent group at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry and was jointly appointed as a tenure-track assistant professor at the Technical University of Munich. In 2025, she was promoted to a tenured associate professor in the Department of Bioscience at TUM. In 2026, she joined the Max Perutz Labs and Medical University of Vienna as professor of biochemistry.