Miroslav Plohl, Ph.D.,PI, head, Laboratory of structure and function of heterochromatin (LSFH)
Positions:RuđerBošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia: 1993-1998 research associate; 1998-2005 senior research associate; 2005-2010 senior scientist; 2010- reelectedsenior scientist; University of J. J. Strossmayer, Osijek (Croatia): 2006-2011 honorary associate professor and 2011 honorary full professor.
Scientific interest: Long-term experience in non-coding repetitive DNA sequences: heterochromatin genomics, satellite DNA composition and evolution. DNA sequences in (peri)centromeric, telomeric and interstitial domains; done on diverse invertebrate organisms.
Papers: 46 (CC), 3 (SCI), 4 chapters in books and special editions; > 800 citations, h-index = 19
Specialization and study visits (>one months): 1994-1996 postdoctoral fellowship from Spanish Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia in Institute of Molecular Biology IBM-C.S.I.C., Barcelona, Spain; EMBO short-term visits (2000 and 2002), NATO Expert Visit Grant (2006) in Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona, IBMB – CSIC.
Grants Awarded – Principal Investigator: National Grants: Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of Republic of Croatia: Evolution, properties and functional interactions of satellite DNA sequences (2007 - ); Organization of heterochromatic DNA sequences in invertebrate genomes (2002-2006). Programme director: Molecular fundaments of biological processes (2007-2011).
International: COST 872: „Exploiting genomics to understand plant-nematode interactions“, Managing Committee member (2009-2011); Italy: „Origin and evolution of satellite DNAs in two economically relevant Venerupis bivalve molluscs of the Adriatic Sea“ (2009-2010); ESF Exploratory Workshop on „Heterochromatin structure and function: from repetitive DNA sequences to epigenetics“ (2008; M. Plohl, convenor); France, Cogito: „Study of DNA, protein components and their interactions in centromeres of holocentric chromosomes of root-knot nematodes of the genus Meloidogyne“ (2007-2008, extended to 2009); „Study of organization, structure and evolution of satellite DNA sequences in root-knot nematode genome“ (2003-2004); Croatian – Polish Academies of Sciences: Satellite DNA and constitutive heterochromatin in Cionus species (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) (2002-2003); bench money for two foreign doctoral students visits from Portugal (2009).
Teaching: course leader at Graduate study of Biology, University of J. J. Strossmayer in Osijek (Croatia), postgraduate and doctoral studies at Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Zagreb; Medical Faculty, University of Zagreb; RuđerBošković Institute in collaboration with University of J. J. Strossmayer in Osijek and University of Dubrovnik; guest-teacher at doctoral study Biodiversity and Evolution, University of Bologna (Italy). Director of 7 B.Sc, 3 M.Sc., and 3 Ph.D. theses.
Invited speaker and organization of conferences: Over 30 invited talks at institutions, professional associations, schools and conferences, national and international. Member of scientific/organizing committees at national and international conferences, President of the scientific committee of Croatian Biological Congress (2006 and 2009), of symposium “50 years of molecular biology in Croatia” (2008), Convenor of ESF Exploratory Workshop on „Heterochromatin structure and function: from repetitive DNA sequences to epigenetics“ (2008).
Reviewing activities: > 50 articles (in last 5 years e.g. in: Mol. Biol. Evol.; BMC Plant Biology; BMC Genomics; Heredity; Chromosome Res.; J. Mol. Evol.; Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol.; Gene; Cytogenetics and Genome Res.; Plos One).Editor for Molecular biology and genetics in Central European Journal of Biology (CEJB).Reviewer of national and international projects, reviewer for European Science Foundation (ESF), Panel board member for ESF Eurocores call EEFG.
Awards:Ruđer Bošković Institute award 2010.