News

A ribozyme for site-specific N4-Cytidine alkylation was discovered by Evgeniia Dorinova in the Höbartner laboratory at the University of Würzburg.

Evolution at its best: On April 30th, 2026 Evgeniia Dorinova successfully defended her PhD on "In vitro Evolution and Characterisation of Alkyltransferase Ribozymes". Many congratulations and all best wishes for a bright future!

The Höbartner Lab gives its all even outside the lab, as seen here at the 36th Residenzlauf in Würzburg. On 26 April, more than 10,000 runners took part in the 36th Residence Run, circling the historic Residence with its Hofgarten and Residenzplatz. Among them was our lab team, which put in a fantastic performance by finishing 11th in the 5-kilometre Fit-and-Fun company run, men’s category. With this success, the team came second in the university rankings. Congratulations!

From 16 to 18 March 2026, Würzburg hosted the conference of the GDCh Biochemistry Division. Under the theme “From chemical structures to biological functions”, around 100 scientists from Germany and abroad gathered at the Hotel Melchior Park. The award presented at the conference recognises Evgeniia’s work “Alkyltransferase Ribozymes for Site-specific N4-Cytidine Alkylation”.

DNA and RNA are the most fascinating molecules of life. They can even act like enzymes and continue to surprise chemists and biologists alike. Claudia is one of the researchers who have shaped the research field of nucleic acid catalysis in recent years. Her discoveries have now once again been recognised with a prestigious award.

Konstantin and Julia from the Höbartner Group presented their most recent research results at the International Conference on Fluorescent Biomolecules and their Building Blocks (6FB3), which took place in Turin from 8 to 11 March, 2026.

The local competition of Three-Minute-Thesis (3MT®) contest took place on March 6th, 2026 in Wuerzburg, where Hsuan-Ai successfully translated her complex research into an engaging talk for the public.

Maria, a PhD student in the Höbartner research group, and Johannes, who has just completed his Master’s thesis, are currently pursuing international opportunities as part of a research exchange programme, and of course for their personal and professional development. Both are spending several months at the School of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram (IISER TVM) in India.

Manisha gave an invited talk on her research area “Site-specific Modification of RNA by Synthetic Ribozyme’’ at the first-ever WOMEN FORCE 2026 meeting held at IIT Gandhinagar, India from 26 to 28 February.

Significantly more colleagues than last year showed up at the Women's Carnival wearing ties in the laboratory, thereby qualifying the cutting off of their ties as tacit consent.

The Alpine RNA Summit in St. Moritz, held from January 26 to 29, 2026, was the concluding meeting of the Swiss NCCR "RNA & Disease" and a great opportunity for networking with fellow RNA scientists from RNAmed as well as from Austria and France.

Hsuan-Ai Chen represented the Höbartner group in the user meeting at Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY) and European X-ray free electron laser facility (EuXFEL).

The new year brings exciting developments: several new research projects are launching in our group, and ongoing projects continue successfully. A special highlight is the GDCh Biochemistry 2026 conference "From chemical structures to biological functions", which we will host from March 16-18, 2026 in Würzburg. We cordially invite you to be part of this international scientific exchange!

Dr Martin Volek was awarded the Czech prize ‘Česká hlava’ (‘Czech Brain’) in the ‘Doctorandus’ category in the field of natural sciences. The award ceremony took place during a gala broadcast on Czech public television.

Special attention for Martin Volek's research on in vitro selection at the RNA Club meeting 2025 Prague on 31 October, thanks in part to his ‘messages’ from Bavaria.