(Vienna, 16-07-2018) Research Group Leader at Max F. Perutz Laboratories (MFPL), will take over a professorship in Mechanistic Cell Biology at the Medical University of Vienna on 15 July 2018.
Alwin Köhler has been group leader at the Max F.Perutz Laboratories (MFPL), a joint research and training centre of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna at the Vienna Biocenter since 2010. His main research interest lies in the investigation of nuclear pore complexes, the molecular gates embedded in the nuclear envelope where they control the entire transport between the cell nucleus and the cytoplasm. In addition to this transport function, the nuclear pores have additional functions such as the regulation of gene expression and the modelling of the nuclear envelope that protects the genome. Recently, he discovered a hitherto unknown metabolic activity of the nuclear envelope, which is associated with lipid storage in the cell nucleus (Romanauska & Köhler, Cell, 2018). As a result of their essential functions, the nuclear envelope and nuclear pores are involved in a variety of human diseases. “I see great potential for ground-breaking discoveries in the intelligent combination of basic research and medicine. Our institute also wants to develop in this direction, in research and in the development of innovative teaching concepts for medical students”, he says about his future plans.
About the person
Alwin Köhler was born in Kronstadt (Romania). He studied medicine at the University of Würzburg and received his doctorate from the Department of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School. After a postdoctoral position at the Biochemistry Centre in Heidelberg, he moved to Vienna in 2010, where he was group leader at Max F. Perutz Laboratories and is currently deputy director. Among other things, he received a START scholarship from the FWF, an ERC Starting Grant and a NOMIS Pioneering Research Grant. In 2017 he received a highly paid ERC Consolidator Grant for his studies on the nuclear pore complex.
Max F. Perutz Laboratories (MFPL)
Max F. Perutz Laboratories (MFPL) is a joint research and training centre of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna at the Vienna Biocentre, one of the largest life sciences clusters in Austria. The MFPL employs around 500 staff from 40 nations in an average of 60 research groups working on basic research and teaching in the field of molecular biology. Information: www.mfpl.ac.at