New Director

Department of Biochemistry III has a new Director/ Chair: Professor Neva Caliskan has started her position on 1. June 2024. The RNA Biochemist is the successor of Professor Herbert Tschochner, who has been leading the department since 2003. 

Neva Caliskan was previously leading the research group "Recoding mechanisms in infections" at the HIRI in Würzburg, a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), and held a junior professorship at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität of Würzburg. 

Neva Caliskan studied molecular biology and genetics at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara (Turkey) and worked as a visiting scholar in 2005 at EMBL in Heidelberg. She received her Master's degree at the International Max Planck Research School for Molecular Biology (Göttingen) in 2009. After completing her PhD in 2013, she first worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Physical Biochemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry and then as a project leader at the same institute from 2015-2017. In January 2018 she started the research group "Recoding Mechanisms in Infections" at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg and since May 2018 also held a junior professorship at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Würzburg.

Caliskan lab specializes on understanding the dynamics of RNA molecules regulating translation and maintenance of translational reading frame in eukaryotic cells especially during development and in response to infections. 

The group employs a highly interdisciplinary toolset including RNA-antisense purification and mass spectrometry to identify RNA-interaction partners, and cellular assays to investigate molecular details. Ensemble and single molecule assays such as optical tweezers are key to study the dynamics of RNA complexes. Ultimately, they seek to understand how RNA-structure elements act in concert with other factors in the cell to modulate the way mRNA messages are read by ribosomes during infections to advance RNA-based therapeutics.

Prof. Caliskan is excited to start her new role in Regensburg. University of Regensburg offers excellent conditions to perform basic research in the field of RNA and biochemistry to understand mechanisms of RNA-based gene expression events. “I look forward to working together with colleagues in our department and other experts in neighboring institutes in Regensburg to bring a deeper understanding to RNA molecules.” “A better understanding of the effects of RNA molecules on infections and innate immunity will in the long run provide us with new tools for synthetic biology and new opportunities for RNA-centric antiviral and immunotherapies”, says Caliskan