On this page
Nucleic acids and proteins are the key building blocks of life, yet many essential aspects of their relationship remain enigmatic. The aim of our research is to decipher the fundamental rules behind the interactions between nucleic acids and proteins in crowded environments, understand the impact these interactions have had in shaping life’s evolutionary history and study their role in present-day systems. The central hypothesis behind our research is that direct interactions between nucleic acids and proteins have contributed to the establishment of the universal genetic code and that, in turn, the code can be seen as a Rosetta stone for understanding RNA-protein interactions in general. A corollary of this hypothesis, which we are particularly interested in, is that mRNA coding sequences may be complementary to and bind in co-aligned fashion to their cognate proteins, especially if unstructured.
We use and develop different techniques of computational biology, including molecular dynamics simulations, free energy and entropy calculations and structural bioinformatics methods, in close conjunction with experiment. Moreover, we develop novel methods of what could best be described as physicochemical bioinformatics, an approach to representing, analyzing and comparing biological sequences as physicochemical objects, which they invariably are. By combining rigorous, atomistic description of individual biomolecules with the richness of modern-day proteomic and genomic datasets, we strive to discover new fundamental principles behind the organization of biological matter and explain essential biological phenomena from a quantitative, physicochemical perspective.
Bojan Zagrovic obtained an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Harvard University and a PhD in biophysics from Stanford University, working with Vijay S. Pande. He was an EMBO postdoc with Wilfred F. van Gunsteren at ETH Zurich and a group leader and scientific director at Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences in native Croatia. He joined Max Perutz Labs and University of Vienna in 2010.
We have shown that the nucleotide-density profiles of mRNA coding sequences closely match the nucleotide-affinity profiles of their cognate proteins, suggesting that mRNAs and the proteins that they encode may, in general, be physicochemically complementary to each other and bind in a co-aligned fashion, especially if unstructured.
We have recently developed VOLPES, a server for visualizing and comparing sequence profiles of different physicochemical properties of proteins and nucleic acids. VOLPES supports over 600 amino-acid and nucleotide property scales and enables multi-scale detection of patterns that may be inaccessible to standard methods of primary sequence analysis.
We have developed a parallel computational suite for the determination of conformational entropy change in biomolecular interactions from molecular dynamics simulation trajectories and have used it to demonstrate that intramolecular couplings provide a surprisingly constant contribution to the overall conformational entropy change in compact proteins.
RNA-protein interactions in an unstructured context.
Zagrovic, Bojan; Bartonek, Lukas; Polyansky, Anton A
Direct interplay between stereochemistry and conformational preferences in aminoacylated oligoribonucleotides.
Polyansky, Anton A; Kreuter, Mathias; Sutherland, John D; Zagrovic, Bojan
Frameshifting preserves key physicochemical properties of proteins.
Bartonek, Lukas; Braun, Daniel; Zagrovic, Bojan
European Research Council: Short, weakly interacting RNAligands for the development of high-concentration monoclonal antibody therapeutics
Austrian Science Fund: RNA-protein interactions in an unstructured context, 2018
Austrian Science Fund: 2’ vs. 3’ aminoacylation in biological translation
2016-2019: The Group Zagrovic participates in the special Doctoral Program "Integrative Structural Biology" reviewed and funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF.
Awardee of a "Starting Independent Researcher Grant" from the European Research Council ERC
Project title: “Specific and global aspects of protein interactions”
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: WU Shuangyang (Dolan), SCARAMUZZA Federico (Tessmar), KROGULL Daniel (Burga)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
The recently discovered ties between teeth and infants in human evolution
Speaker: Leslea HluskoInstitute: CENIEHHost: Nicole Grunstra
Characterisation of Vpr1, a novel protein involved in DSB repair
Speaker: Mustafa AlaaboInstitute: Dept. Chromosome Biology, Univ. ViennaHost: Franz Klein
Probing multi-scale dynamics in complex fluids and biological systems with differential dynamic microscopy
Speaker: Roberto CerbinoInstitute: University of ViennaHost: Arthur Sedivy
Marine symbioses fueled by wood
Speaker: Dan DistelInstitute: Ocean Genome Legacy CenterHost: Jillian Petersen
New insights in gene regulation and chromatin folding by enhancers and cohesin
Speaker: Wouter de LaatInstitute: Hubrecht InstituteHost: Christa Bücker
Genetic approaches in human cells to expose 'hidden' biology
Speaker: Thijn BrummelkampInstitute: NKI / Oncode InstituteHost: Johannes Zuber
Molecular mechanism analysis involved in mitochondrial sheath formation and spermiation processes using gene-manipulated mice
Speaker: Keisuke ShimadaInstitute: Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka UniversityHost: Andrea Pauli
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: JELENIC Stela (Saha), ABDRAKHMANOV Alibek (Dagdas), GALUSKA Philipp (Djinovic)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Exploiting a unique post-translational modification to enhance subunit selection and activity of a tumor suppressor complex
Speaker: Derek TaylorInstitute: Departments of Pharmacology and Biochemistry,Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland OHIOHost: Thomas Leonard and Egon Ogris
From non-coding RNAs to non-canonical Mutations in Cancer
Speaker: Sven DiederichsInstitute: DKFZHost: Julius Brennecke
Chemical tools to study nucleic acids by biophysical methods
Speaker: Christoph KreutzInstitute: University of InnsbruckHost: Georg Kontaxis
Microbial trait-based scaling from single populations to communities with consequences for ecosystem processes
Speaker: Ashish MalikInstitute: University of AberdeenHost: Andreas Richter
How chromosome architecture shapes brain architecture
Speaker: Daniele CanzioInstitute: UCSFHost: Anton Goloborodko
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: MAYER Rupert (Proteomics Tech Hub), WILLIAMS Thomas (Clausen), GEISMANN Maximilian (Balzarotti)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Comprehensive and quantitative characterization of aneuploidy phenotypes
Speaker: Manuela Sophie KollerInstitute: Dept. Chromosome Biology, Univ. ViennaHost: Chris Campbell
Cellular crosstalk in Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Speaker: Silvia CappelloInstitute: MPI of Psychiatry MunichHost: Jürgen Knoblich
Top down and bottom up exploration of human gut microbial communities
Speaker: Karoline FaustInstitute: KU LeuvenHost: Lucia Fuchslueger
Title to be announced
Speaker: Chris OostenbrinkInstitute: BOKU WienHost: Kristina Djinovic-Carugo
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: PACHECO FIALLOS Franics Belen (Plaschka), FONTES OLIVEIRA Tiago Manuel (Penninger)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
The Mirage of Biosocial Complexity: Critique and Collaboration Around the Tools of Epigenetics
Speaker: Luca ChiapperinoInstitute: Institute of Social Sciences (ISS), University of LausanneHost: Vienna Open Lab
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: KHALDIEH Nina (Ameres), LORENZO ORTS Laura (Pauli), ROSS James (Burga)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Samer HattarInstitute: NIHHost: Kristin Tessmar
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: RAFFL Gerald (Ameres), SAJTOS Bettina (Zuber), LANGER Christoph (Gerlich)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Anshul KundajeInstitute: Stanford UniversityHost: Alex Stark
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: STEINACKER Thomas (Gerlich), EDER Stephanie (Zimmer), TIKANOVA Polina (Burga)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: SCHELLHAAS Ulla (Plaschka/Ameres), RUSCH Emma (Goloborodko), VULIN Milica (Obenauf)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: RADHAKRISHNA PILLAI Balashankar (Saha), MIGOTTI Mario (Konrat), RÖHNSER Josef (Pauli)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: BELL Caelan (Gerlich), MEREITER Stefan (Penninger), BINDL Michael (Leeb)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: LORBEER Franziska (Stark), MULVEY Hugh (Dolan), PÜHRINGER Florian (Burga)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: HOLZER Elisabeth (Martens), COLOZZA Gabriele (Koo), FALCON CHAVEZ Francisco (Tanaka)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: BLAHA Andreas (Pauli), OKUN Anastasia (Karagöz), JUNG Pauline (Obenauf)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Sir Philip CohenInstitute: University of DundeeHost: Egon Ogris
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: LICHT-MAYER Simon (Penninger), CAYGILL Samuel (Dolan), ADELMANN Leonie (Raible)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Feng ShaoInstitute: National Institute of Biological Sciences, BeijingHost: Pavel Kovarik
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: SHUNMUGAM Dhanlakshmi (Baccarini), CECI GINISTRELLI Lavinia (Mendjan), VORLÄNDER Matthias (Plaschka)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Jan LöweInstitute: MRC Laboratory of Molecular BiologyHost: Jan-Michael Peters
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: KOK Jian Yi (Berger), GROH Roan (Dagdas), SODERHOLM Adrian (Versteeg)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Stephan GruberInstitute: University of LausanneHost: Franz Klein
Title to be announced
Speaker: Lydia FinleyInstitute: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer CenterHost: Johannes Zuber
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: STRAVS Ana (Knoblich), SANCHEZ DE MEDINA HERNANDEZ Victor (Dagdas), HORENKAMP Simone (Tanaka)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: PROTELL I DE MONTSERRAT Julia (Brennecke/Plaschka), NAGUMO WONG Sakurako (Knoblich), CORIC Aida (Tessmar)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Nancy KlecknerInstitute: Harvard UniversityHost: Franz Klein
Title to be announced
Speaker: Vera Gorbunova and Andrei SeluanovInstitute: University of RochesterHost: EDI group at GMI/IMBA/IMP
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: GRABARCZYK Daniel (Clausen), TAVERINI Katherina (Urban), MANCHENO JUNCOSA Estela (Mendjan)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Edward LemkeInstitute: IMB MainzHost: David Haselbach
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: ATTRILL Sarah (Dolan), UIJTTEWAAL Esther (Elling), SCIBISZ Grzegorz (Karagöz)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: DOLESCHALL Balint (Knoblich), FENG Sonjie (Bücker), BOURGUET Pierre (Berger)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Rotem SorekInstitute: Weizmann Institute of Science, RehovotHost: Julius Brennecke
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: KRUMWIEDE Luisa (Gaidt), KAPRAL Thomas (Zagrovic)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: KOBAKHIDZE George (Dong), ANGELOPOULOU Eleni (Ellis), PACHANO Tomas (Stark)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Stephan GrillInstitute: MPI of Molecular Cell Biology and GeneticsHost: Clemens Plaschka
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: RAMIREZ America (Köhler), VÖLKL Isabella (Bücker), HOANG Oi Pui (Technau)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Mounia LaghaInstitute: Institut de Genetique Moleculaire de MontpellierHost: Andrea Pauli
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: LEITNER Moritz (Martinez), VOGEL Alexander (Yudushkin), KETTEL Paulina (Karagöz)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Martin HetzerInstitute: IST AustriaHost: Jürgen Knoblich
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: TSAREV Aleksandr (Ameres), FIESELER Charlie (Zimmer), ABESAMIS Kim Ivan (Dong)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Laurent NguyenInstitute: University of LiegeHost: Noelia Urban
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: HEIDARI KHOEI Heidar (Rivron), KLEIFELD Justus (Urban), ORLIC Lucija (Matos)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Ian HicksonInstitute: University of CopenhagenHost: Joao Matos
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: SHULKINA Alexandra (Versteeg), GEETHA Sowmya (Jantsch), MADHUSUDHANAN Jalaja (Zimmer)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: KOLLER Manuela (Campbell), GUPTA Ankit (Goloborodko), SCHMÖLLERL Johannes (Zuber)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: MARCHIORI Elisa (Van der Veeken), ACHLEITNER Anja (Martens), FAAS Victoria (Clausen)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: SALEWSKIJ Kirill (Penninger), KIRCHGATTERER Paul (Gaidt), REN Kaike (Otsuka)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: MIHAILOVIC Milica (Karagöz), BELL Lillie (Clausen), TELONI Federico (Gerlich)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: STANKUNAS Edvinas (Köhler), LEV Itamar (Zimmer)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: OBERHUEMER Michael (Leeb), GONAZLEZ ALVARADO Maria (Grade), SCHOLZ Julia (Otsuka)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: AMANN Sascha (Haselbach), KASHKO Nataliia (Matos), BAUER Bernd (Martens)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: LEE Joonsun (Elling), LEYVA GONZALEZ Marco (Tanaka), MILIVOJEV Nadja (Raible)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: GAO Peng (Dagdas), GOGOVA Rebeca (Clausen), PAVLOVA Anzhela (Matos)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: AYALA MUNOZ Farja (Plaschka), VETRANO Pamela (Ramundo), YU Changwei (Brennecke)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: KONSTANTINOU Andri (Obenauf), NAVA GARCIA Marintia (Dagdas), WOLFF Uyen Le Phuong (Jantsch V.)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: HARTMANN Felix (Matos), PASSERA Alessandro (Balzarotti), SANCHEZ BURGOS Laura (Obenauf)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: SILVA Raquel (Foisner), HODAKOVA Zuzana (Haselbach), MYLARSHCHIKOV Dmitry (Gerlich)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Title to be announced
Speaker: Johannes WalterInstitute: Harvard Medical SchoolHost: Jan-Michael Peters
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: PIECH Lucas (Leonard), DE LA CONCEPCION Juan Carlos (Dagdas), POPOVA Mariia (Peters)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: GALLI Lucrezia (Tanaka), DIAS Ana Beatriz (Slade), TAKACS Zsuzsanna (Gerlich)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: KNIEST Judith (Haselbach), KELLNER Max (Penninger), BABADEI Olga (Decker)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: BOHAUMILITZKY Lena (Pinheiro), RAIDERS Stephan (Tanaka), PRLESI Ines (Gerlich)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: ZHAN Ni (Dagdas), PITASI Mattia (Leeb), HEINZL Monika (Stark)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: VELETI Lalitha (Pauli), ENGL Magdalena (Slade), NAAS Julia (Van Haeseler)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: FARAWAY Rupert (Plaschka), GRUNDMANN Lorenz (Haselbach), KLEINWAECHTER Ava (Slade)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: RÖTZER Johannes (Dolan), MIOCIC-STOSIC Fran (Zagrovic), RITSCHKA Birgit (Tanaka)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: PUSHPA BOSE Greeshma (Urban), RAINA Shiviya (Dammermann)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: COUTURIER Jeanne (Jachowicz), PABST Gabriel (Zuber), ROFFAY Chloe (Pinheiro)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: RUSSETT Colleen (Berger), NAJM Ramsey (Knoblich), HOLLAUS David (Gaidt)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: SHARMA Sanskriti (Ellis), JANKOWSKA Julia (Ameres), PAPAREDDY Ranjith (Dagdas)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: MAURER Eric (Peters), BHARDWAJ Vishakha (Schlögelhofer), DIEZMA Laura (Nordborg/Mari-Ordonez)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: GUZMAN PEREZ Sebastian (Martinez), LITTLEBOY Jamie (Knoblich), RIABOV Daria (Plaschka)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: ZEILER Christina (Kovarik), DOCAVO GARCIA Antonio (Jachowicz), Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: ZMAJKOVIC Jakub (Zuber), DEL CHIARO Alessia (Dagdas), ANTONIOLI Sumire (Leonard)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: HUETTER Christiane (Menche), KRACHT Laura (Knoblich), SANDRU Ana Maria (Baccarini)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: BENEDUM Johannes (Slade), KALIS Robert (Zuber), PATEL Rajvi (Matos)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs
Monday Seminar (Internal)
Speaker: PROTSENKO Liudmila (Brennecke), SHETTY Kavya (Hein), BASSAT Elad (Tanaka)Institute: Open only to IMP/IMBA/GMI/Max Perutz Labs