Jürgen Knoblich amongst the Highly Cited Researchers of 2019

Jürgen Knoblich became IMBA’s Scientific Director in 2018 after establishing his research group in 2004 as senior scientist. He has received several prestigious awards such as the Wittgenstein Award, the Schroedinger Prize, the FEBS Anniversary Prize as well as two Advanced Research Grants from the ERC. He is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), the Academia Europaea and the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Jürgen Knoblich and his lab are also part of LifeTime, a pan-European initiative to revolutionize healthcare by applying breakthrough technologies to the progression of human diseases and intends to find and implement new methods for personalized prevention, early diagnosis and treatment.

Knoblich´s work focuses on understanding the mechanisms of human brain development. Initially he was studying the molecular mechanisms guiding brain development and pathogenesis using the fruit fly Drosophila as model organism. In 2013, his lab successfully cultivated the first organoid model of early human brain development, termed “Cerebral Organoids”. The novel technology led to a paradigm shift as cerebral organoids mimic early human brain development in a surprisingly precise way. This opens the door to neurodevelopmental studies and targeted analyses of human neurological disorders that are otherwise not possible.

About IMBA
IMBA - Institute of Molecular Biotechnology - is one of the leading biomedical research institutes in Europe focusing on cutting-edge stem cell technologies, functional genomics, and RNA biology. IMBA is located at the Vienna BioCenter, the vibrant cluster of universities, research institutes and biotech companies in Austria. IMBA is a subsidiary of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the leading national sponsor of non-university academic research. The stem cell and organoid research at IMBA is being funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and the City of Vienna.