Research milestones

Hartmut Beug was a founding member of the IMP, joining as a Senior Scientist in 1988. During his 22 years at the IMP, he achieved recognition and a lasting impact in two fields of research, haematopoiesis and cancer metastasis. His lab was the first to show the importance of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in metastasis...more

The methylation of DNA, specifically of the cytosine base in the context CpG, is an alteration of DNA without changing its sequence – and the first epigenetic modification discovered in mammals. Adrian Bird was already an authority on DNA methylation, having led the team that first identified CpG islands in mammalian genomes, when he was recruited to the IMP as one of the first senior scientists in 1987...more

B cells and T cells are the white blood cells responsible for acquired immunity, providing acute and long-term protection of the host against pathogens. During his more than 30 years as a principal investigator at the IMP, Meinrad Busslinger’s research has focused on the roles of transcription factors in the commitment to and differentiation of the B cell lineage. In particular, his work on Pax5 has revealed wide-reaching insights into the mechanisms of lineage commitment...more

During her eight years as a group leader at the IMP, Denise Barlow made ground-breaking discoveries in the field of genomic imprinting – an epigenetic phenomenon underlying parent-of-origin-specific gene expression. She was a pioneer, not only as a founding figure in epigenetics, but also as the first female group leader at the IMP and a vocal supporter of diversity... more

All animals are born with instinctive or innate behaviours, such as nest building in birds or web weaving in spiders. But what is the biological basis of such behaviours? Barry Dickson, who spent around 12 years of his career at the IMP, set out to unravel neural circuits in the brain that control complex innate behaviours...more

Landmark work around the turn of the millennium catapulted the field of epigenetics, the study of phenotypic changes that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence, into the scientific limelight. In particular, breakthroughs in understanding of histone modifications and their impact on the structure and function of chromatin, which organises DNA into compact structures in the nucleus, triggered a deluge of publications with far-reaching implications. During 15 years as a group leader at the IMP in Vienna, Austria, Thomas Jenuwein’s work, particularly that on mammalian histone lysine methylation, was instrumental in triggering and ensuring the successful continuation of this remarkable era... more

During Kim Nasmyth’s time as a group leader (including nearly 10 years as Scientific Director) at the IMP in Vienna, Austria, he and his colleagues uncovered some of the fundamental mechanisms that enable the meticulous segregation of chromosomes during cell division. Their discoveries triggered what Kim would describe as a "chain reaction of knowledge", which to this day has not lost momentum... more

“Activator Protein 1” (AP-1) is an evolutionarily conserved transcription factor complex that regulates cell physiology in response to environmental changes. During his 20 years at the IMP, Erwin Wagner focused much of his research on AP-1, using pioneering mouse models to study diseases such as psoriasis and cancer... more