Gregor Obernosterer
From Santa Fe Institute Events Wiki
I received a BSc in Computer Science and an MSc degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Vienna, Austria. In 2003 I joined the International NRW Graduate School for Bioinformatics and Genome Research in Bielefeld, Germany as a Research Assistant where I worked with Marc Rehmsmeier mainly on the prediction of microRNAs (miRNAs). In 2005 I moved back to Vienna and started my PhD at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, IMBA under the supervision of Javier Martinez. Still I am mainly interested in predicting miRNA target genes and understanding their biological function. Together with Gerhard Schratt from the University of Heidelberg I could identify a brain specific miRNA that seems to regulate the size of dendritic spines. In the future, it will be interesting to learn to understand the mechansim the miRNA plays in regulating the size of synapses and if this has any effect on learning and memory. Furthermore, I am working with Ivo Hofacker from the Institute of Theoretical Biochemistry, TBI, Vienna where I am trying to incorporate how RNA secondary structure around target sites affect miRNA and siRNA binding.
Gregor Obernosterer Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Dr. Bohr-Gasse 3 1030 Vienna, Austria Tel.: +43 1 79044 4858 Fax.: +43 1 79044 110 eMail: gregor AT tbi.univie.ac.at http://www.imba.oeaw.ac.at