News

In June 2020, Joanna Loizou and her team members moved to the Medical University of Vienna to join the Institute of Cancer Research. Joanna will now become an Adjunct Principal Investigator at CeMM.

Joanna Loizou’s long-standing expertise is embedded in investigating the cellular pathways that respond to DNA damage, to maintain genome stability and suppress disease. Her important contributions within this field began during her PhD (2000-2004, UK) and continued during two postdoctoral positions (2004-2007 France, and 2007-2011 UK). During these training posts, Joanna consistently made seminal discoveries by identifying a novel kinase that regulates DNA repair (Loizou et al, Cell 2004), linking the DNA damage response to post-translational modifications and epigenetic regulation (Murr & Loizou et al, Nature Cell Biology 2006) and identifying and characterizing a novel tumour suppressor (Loizou et al, Cancer Cell 2011). In September 2011, Joanna established her independent group at CeMM, investigating the mechanisms by which cells respond to – and repair - DNA damage to maintain genomic stability and suppress tumorigenesis and other rare hereditary diseases. One of many research highlights was in 2017, when Joanna’s research group, together with collaborators from the Medical University of Vienna and the IRB Barcelona, found that the FDA-approved diabetes drug acetohexamide significantly improves the resilience of NER deficient cells against UV radiation in vitro. The study (Mazouzi et al, Mol. Cell 2017) identified the responsible molecular mode of action, a hitherto unknown, NER-independent repair mechanism for UV-induced DNA damage.

Her research has culminated in being awarded, together with Jacob Corn from ETZ Zurich (Switzerland) and Steve P. Jackson from The Gurdon Institute (UK), a prestigious ERC Synergy Grant for damage response systems. With funding of around €8.86 million that started in the first quarter of 2020, the scientists will devote the next six years to mapping and understanding how eukaryotic cells monitor and protect their genomes. The project’s goal is to provide major insights into human genome surveillance in multiple cell types, yield powerful tools to precisely control DNA repair outcomes, and speed up development of new therapies for cancer and other diseases. Joanna was the first female scientist in Austria to win such a coveted support and of the first ones to do so in the life sciences. Because of Joanna and her collaboration network, Vienna is poised to establish itself on the research map of this highly important area of research for the years to come

This is not a goodbye, it is a natural step forward into her scientific career. CeMM does not offer tenure and therefore Joanna Loizou’s relationship with CeMM enters a new phase: As Adjunct PI, Joanna will stay connected with the institute through the CeMM PhD Program, scientific events, faculty meetings and well-established networks and research collaborations.

CeMM wishes Joanna and her team all the best for this next career step at the Institute of Cancer Research of the Medical University of Vienna!