News from the Institute

IBC2 Director Ivan Đikić delivered the prestigious Mendel Lecture in Brno and received the Mendel Medal in recognition of his contributions to science. In his lecture, Ivan spoke about ubiquitin and autophagy as central quality control systems of life. These cellular processes enable cells to recognize, repair, recycle, or remove damaged components, thereby safeguarding cellular health. They are essential for maintaining cellular homeostasis and are highly relevant to many human diseases. Throughout his career, Ivan has made major contributions to understanding how ubiquitin signaling and autophagy regulate cellular stress responses, homeostasis and disease mechanisms.

The Mendel Lectures bring leading international scientists to the historic Augustinian Abbey in Old Brno – the very place where Gregor Johann Mendel laid the foundations of modern genetics. Returning to Frankfurt, Ivan was deeply impressed and described the visit as a powerful reminder of how extraordinary the impact of one individual can be. More than 150 years ago, Mendel combined careful observation, fundamental biological questions, and rigorous statistics and mathematics to uncover the principles of inheritance, discoveries that forever changed science and our understanding of life.

Since their launch in 2003, the Mendel Lectures have welcomed many outstanding researchers, including Nobel Prize laureates, and have become an important forum for scientific exchange across generations.

Pauline Lascaux, postdoc in the Dikic group, has been awarded a highly competitive MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA PF 2025) for the project „MIND – MINDing the brain“. In her project, Pauline will investigate how the autophagy receptor IRGQ functions as a molecular switch between degradative and secretory autophagy in membrane quality control and neuroinflammation. In particular, she will analyse how IRGQ determines vesicle fate decisions in the brain. By addressing fundamental mechanisms at the intersection of autophagy, membrane biology, and brain inflammation, MIND seeks to generate new insights into the cellular processes that precede neurodegenerative disease.

The MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call was exceptionally competitive, underscoring the prestige of this award and highlighting the outstanding scientific quality, innovation, and timeliness of the funded project. Out of 17,066 applications submitted, only1,610 proposals were selected for funding by the European Commission.

Alexandra Stolz, has been featured in the Journal of Cell Science’s ‘Cell Scientists to Watch’ series. In the interview, Alexandra talks openly about what sparked her fascination with cell biology, the people and moments that shaped her scientific path, and the excitement and challenges of starting her own lab. She also reflects on leadership, resilience in academia, and how curiosity and persistence guide her work both in and beyond the lab.

Cell Scientists to Watch is a long-standing editorial series that highlights early independent cell biologists whose work has attracted attention within the international research community.