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CeMM, IMP, IMBA and MFPL hereby launch a PhD Thesis Award in memory of our former colleague and formidable researcher Denise P. Barlow.

Denise P. Barlow (1950-2017) has been an excellent researcher who inspired the molecular biology community in Austria and beyond. In Vienna, she has been associated with four institutions: IMP, where she was a group leader, MFPL, where she has been a professor, IMBA, which has provided laboratory space for some time, and CeMM, where she has been ten years as principal investigator. In 1991, Denise P. Barlow made her first major breakthrough discovery by identifying the first imprinted gene in mammals to show parental specific gene expression. Denise continued to work relentlessly to uncover many fundamental details of the imprinting mechanism. Her group’s subsequent finding that epigenetic silencing of this imprinted gene is induced by expression of an unusually long non-coding (lnc) RNA has led the team to investigate how lncRNAs act throughout the mouse and human genome as regulators of gene expression in development and disease. 

The Denise P. Barlow Award intends to promote the academic career of young scientists, strategically addressing the transition of graduated PhD Students to PostDocs, by offering a small financial help that will alleviate the costs associated with relocation or career development. The Denise P. Barlow Award amounts to € 5000 and will be given once a year. The topic of the thesis can vary and cover basic cell biological, biochemical, molecular biological, structural and computational work, with an emphasis on insight on new biological mechanisms, something Denise P. Barlow was fond of.

Deadline for applications: June 30, 2019. For any IMP, MFPL, IMBA, and CeMM student who has submitted her/his PhD thesis between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019. The Award Ceremony will take place end of October 2019.