Research

Research Interests: RNA molecules as regulators of gene expression, Systematic screens for small RNAs, Deep sequencing technologies

Jörg Vogel has made seminal contributions to our understanding of how cells use noncoding RNA molecules as regulators of gene expression. His research has had its focus on small RNAs in pathogenic bacteria and short and long noncoding RNAs in infected eukaryotic cells. Early contributions include the first systematic screens for small RNAs in E. coli.

Subsequently, he unraveled novel mechanisms elucidating how small RNAs regulate protein synthesis and mRNA decay, and how they recognize mRNAs by conserved short seed pairing domains. More recently, he pioneered the application of emerging deep sequencing technologies to discover regulatory RNAs and their targets on the genome-wide scale in pathogen and host cells.

Career

• 2017 Founding Director of the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Würzburg, Germany
• since 2009 Director and Full Professor, Institute of Molecular Infection Biology, University of Würzburg, Germany
• 2004-2010 Max Planck Research Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germany
• 2002-2003 EMBO Fellow, Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel
• 2000-2001 Postdoc, Dept of Cell & Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, Sweden
• 1999 Dr. rer. nat., Humboldt University Berlin, Germany
• 1997 Diplom Biochemistry, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany
• 1994-1995 Undergraduate Biochemistry, Imperial College London, UK

Functions

• from 2021 President of the European Academy for Microbiology
• since 2017 Chairman, DFG committee on scientific instrumentation
• since 2015 DFG committee on scientific instrumentation
• since 2015 EMBO long-term fellowship committee
• since 2014 Editorial board member, Molecular Cell
• since 2011 Spokesperson of the Research Center for Infectious Diseases (ZINF), Würzburg, Germany
• since 2010 Editorial board member, EMBO Journal
• since 2010 Editorial board member, Molecular Microbiology
• since 2008 Editorial board member, Nucleic Acids Research
• since 2007 Associate Editor, RNA Biology
• 2006-2015 Editorial board member, Journal of Bacteriology

Honours and Memberships

• 2019 Feldberg Prize for German-British exchange in science
• 2017 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation (DFG)
• since 2016 Honorary Professor, Imperial College London, UK
• since 2015 Elected member, European Academy of Microbiology
• since 2013 Member, National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
• since 2013 Elected fellow, American Academy of Microbiology
• since 2011 Elected member, EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organisation)
• 2011 DGHM Senior Scientist Award
• 2010 VAAM Research Award