Student Jobs
Coming Soon
Coming Soon
Coming Soon
Thesis Topics
M.Sc Tittle :
Analysis of the role of SFRP in the axis patterning of the cnidarian Nematostella.
Description
Canonical and non-canonical Wnt signaling is involved in controlling an enormous variety of processes during animal development and disease. Among them – such basic things as patterning the posterior-anterior body axis, regulating germ layer formation, and cell polarity in the epithelium. Where and how strong Wnt ligands will signal is determined by many layers of regulation, both extracellularly and intracellularly. In your Master project, you will be analyzing the function either of an extracellular Wnt signaling regulator SFRP (Master thesis 1) or of an1 intracellular regulator Dishevelled
Contact Pesron
Grigory Genikhovich
grigory.genikhovich@univie.ac.at
Expiry Date:
31.10.2025
M.Sc Tittle :
Analysis of the roles of Dishevelled during Nematostella early development.
Description :
Canonical and non-canonical Wnt signaling is involved in controlling an enormous variety of processes during animal development and disease. Among them – such basic things as patterning the posterior-anterior body axis, regulating germ layer formation, and cell polarity in the epithelium. Where and how strong Wnt ligands will signal is determined by many layers of regulation, both extracellularly and intracellularly. In your Master project, you will be analyzing the function either of an extracellular Wnt signaling regulator SFRP (Master thesis 1) or of an1 intracellular regulator Dishevelled (Master thesis 2) during embryonic development of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis. The work will involve using CRISPR-mediated genome editing to generate and characterize Dishevelled and SFRP mutants, tagging endogenous Dishevelled by generating a CRISPR-mediated knock-in, RNAi-mediated and morpholino-mediated gene knockdowns, mRNA-mediated gene overexpression, gene expression analyses by in situ hybridization, Q-PCR, and imaging.
Contact Person
Grigory Genikhovich
grigory.genikhovich@univie.ac.at
Expiry Date:
31.10.2025
M.Sc Tittle:
Establishment of a cryoperservation protocol for sperm and embryos in the sea anemone Nematostella.
Description :
Nematostella vectensis has become a major model organism in EvoDevo. We have generated numerous transgenic lines and CRISPR mutants. In this thesis, we would like to establish a protocol how to freeze sperm (and eggs or embryos) and then reactivate them later. This work will be in collaboration with the group of Florian Raible and Kristin Tessmar.
Contact Person
Uli Technau
ulrich.technau@univie.ac.at
Expiry Date
31.10.2025
M.Sc Tittle:
Development of a Spatiotemporal Gene Expression System in the Cnidarian Nematostella vectensis.
Description:
UAS-Gal4 system is a powerful tool for visualizing and manipulating gene expression in animals. Originally developed in Drosophila, this system has also been adapted in other model organisms. We are developing the UAS-Gal4 system in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis, designed for inducible and temperature-optimized gene expression. This project would enable high-resolution, spatiotemporal control of gene activity to investigate developmental processes in this emerging model organism.
Contact Person
Abhishek Kumar Mishra
abhishek.mishra@univie.ac.at
Expiry Date
30.09.2025
M.Sc Tittle :
From Simplicity to Complexity: Tracing Nervous System Evolution with the Cnidarian Nematostella vectensis.
Description :
How did complex nervous systems originate and diversify? To investigate this fundamental question, in evolutionary neurobiology, we study the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis—an early branching metazoans and a key model positioned in the phylogenetic tree as the sister group to all bilaterians. They are among the earliest animals in which the nervous system evolved. Although Nematostella possesses a diffused nervous system lacking a centralised brain, single-cell RNA-seq data (Steger et al., 2022) from our lab has identified approximately 24 distinct neural subtypes. Project objectives: • To validate neural subtypes by selecting subtype-specific marker genes and analysing its spatial and temporal expression using In-situ hybridisation (ISH) across developmental stages. • To generate transcription factor knockouts (and knockdowns) and conduct functional analyses to investigate their roles in neuronal subtype specification. Molecular techniques involved: • Molecular cloning • Riboprobe synthesis • In situ hybridization (ISH) • Microinjections in single-cell embryos • Imaging (confocal microscopy and image analysis) This project offers hands-on training in developmental genetics and molecular neurobiology, with the broader goal of uncovering novel mechanisms that shaped early nervous system architecture.
Contact Person
Abhishek Kumar Mishra
abhishek.mishra@univie.ac.at
Expiry Date
30.09.2025
M.Sc Tittle :
Body plan self-organization in aggregates of cnidarian embryonic cells
Description
Are you interested in…
Investigating how basic animal form may have emerged and diversified during evolution?
Potentially discovering new ways of making a functional animal in re-aggregates of early cnidarian embryos?
Learning & applying single-cell transcriptomics, (live) fluorescence microscopy and targeted perturbations via CRISPR-Cas9 etc.?
...Then please consider applying for this MSc thesis topic!
Brief Description:
During gastrulation, a simple ball or sphere of embryonic stem cells is transformed into a more complex, multilayered structure, thereby generating basic animal form. Across metazoans, species-specific maternal pre-patterning and extra-embryonic environments play crucial roles in orchestrating associated events by providing localized developmental cues. Strikingly, in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis, complete dissociation of early embryos into single cells and re-aggregation in random spatial order nevertheless results in the formation of a functional animal. Here, body plan formation occurs via alternative developmental trajectories, distinct to the native embryo, revealing a previously hidden developmental flexibility inherent to the embryonic cells. However, molecular and biophysical principles underlying this self-organizing capacity remain unexplored.
To address this, we aim to 1) investigate the influence of the starting cell population heterogeneity on re-aggregate developmental dynamics, to 2) study the role of biomechanics in facilitating re-aggregate morphogenesis and to 3) identify the degree of conservation of body plan formation dynamics between re-aggregates from two cnidarian species with different modes of gastrulation in vivo. The latter aim will encompass the establishment and characterization of a novel re-aggregated system from embryos of the holozoan Clytia hemisphaerica.
For your MSc thesis project, you can focus on an aim of your choice. There will of course be the opportunity to discuss specific goals and experimental approaches before the start of the project. In case you have alternative (ideally related) ideas, I am very happy to hear and consider these.
Contact Person
Kerim Anlas
kerim.anlas@univie.ac.at
Expiry Date
31/10/2025