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Martin Jinek

UZH, CH
Biography

Martin Jinek is a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor at the Department of Biochemistry of the University of Zurich, Switzerland since 2013. His research focuses on protein-RNA interactions and macromolecular complexes that control gene expression and genome defence. Using biochemical and structural approaches, he investigates these processes at the molecular level. Martin Jinek is Czech by origin and studied Natural Sciences at Trinity College, University of Cambridge (UK). In 2006, he received his PhD from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg (Germany) where he conducted his doctoral research in the research group of Prof. Elena Conti. He then moved to the University of California in Berkeley for postdoctoral research with Prof. Jennifer Doudna, where his work led to the discovery of the biochemical function of the RNA-guided endonuclease Cas9. Martin Jinek's work with Professor Doudna made fundamental contributions towards developing the CRISPR-Cas9 system into a versatile genome editing technology. Recent structural studies conducted in Martin Jinek’s independent research group at the University of Zurich have visualized the molecular mechanism of Cas9 in atomic detail. In recognition of his work on the microbial defense systems and the CRISPR-Cas9 genome engineering technology, he has recently received a number of important awards for young investigators. Notably, these include a Starting Grant of the European Research Council (2013), the John Kendrew Young Scientist Award of the EMBL (2014) and the Friedrich Miescher Award of the Swiss Society for Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (2015).

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