Great news at the HIRI: Principal Investigator Chase Beisel has become full professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the Julius Maximilian University (JMU). The appointment comes with leading the new department “RNA Synthetic Biology” at the HIRI.
Chemical engineer Beisel researches the diversity of CRISPR-Cas systems. CRISPR-Cas refers to the natural immune defense of bacteria: a sophisticated strategy of nature used by bacteria to defend themselves against viral attacks.
Beisel's goal is to better understand these systems in order to develop new technologies and therapies in the fight against infectious diseases, cancer or rare genetic diseases.
The latest coup of Beisel and scientists from HIRI and JMU in this promising field of research is LEOPARD: a breakthrough diagnostic platform based on CRISPR.