Martin Jínek, PhD

“By basically designing the sequence of the guide RNA, it could redirect into essentially any sequence in double-stranded DNA.”

Martin Jinek is a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. His research is focused on protein-RNA interactions and macromolecular complexes involved in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression or in genome defense pathways such as CRISPR-Cas. In his studies, Dr Jinek uses biochemical and structural approaches to investigate these processes at the atomic level.

Originally from the Czech Republic, Jinek studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge (UK). In 2006, he received his PhD from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, where he carried out his doctoral research in the laboratory of Professor Elena Conti. He then moved to the University of California at Berkeley for postdoctoral research with Professor Jennifer Doudna, where his work made fundamental contributions towards developing the CRISPR-Cas9 system into a powerful genome editing technology.

In 2013, Jinek set up his independent research group in Zurich and was awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant. In further recognition of his work, Martin Jinek has received the EMBL John Kendrew Young Scientist Award (2014) and the Friedrich Miescher Award of the Swiss Society for Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (2015).