27.6.17, ÖAW DOC Fellowship awarded to Aleksej and Mostafa

Congratulations to DK RNA fellows Aleksej Drino (MedUni Wien, group Schäfer) and Mostafa Elmaghray (IMBA, group Brennecke) for receiving the DOC Fellowship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)!

Aleksej has been a DK RNA-associated student in the lab of Matthias Schäfer since summer 2016. He is studying the phenomenon of stress-induced cleavage of tRNA molecules that results in the production of distinct tRNA fragments. In his PhD project, Aleksej wants to delineate what proteins bind to tRNA fragments and convey their function. Thus he aims to understand more about the functionality and molecular mechanisms of this novel class of small RNA molecules. The DOC fellowship will support his research for three years.

Mostafa has been a DK RNA student in the lab of Julius Brennecke also since summer 2016. For his PhD, Mostafa aims to understand the transcription and fate of small RNA precursor transcripts in the piRNA pathway. The DOC Fellowship will support his research for three years.

We congratulate both of you and wish you all the best for your PhD projects!