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Grigory Genikhovich is a developmental biologist interested in the evolution of axial patterning mechanisms and germ layer formation. He studied biology at the St. Petersburg State University (Russia) and then moved for a PhD on Hydra embryonic development in the Thomas Bosch lab at the University of Kiel in Germany. He changed to using the sea anemone Nematostella, which is a slower evolving species than Hydra and a much better embryological model, during a postdoc in the Technau lab at the Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology in Bergen, Norway. In 2008, the Technau lab moved to the University of Vienna, and so did Grigory, eventually establishing his own research group in 2016. His main research focus has always been the role of Wnt and BMP signaling in regulating cnidarian development and the evolution of bilaterally symmetric body plans in animals.

Genikhovich group website

Welcome to this exciting seminar!

Arina Maltseva

Selected publications:

Mörsdorf, D., Prünster, M.M., Genikhovich, G.* (2024) Chordin-mediated BMP shuttling patterns the secondary body axis in a cnidarian. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.05.27.596067

Lebedeva, T., Boström, J., Mörsdorf, D., Niedermoser, I., Genikhovich, E., Adameyko, I. and Genikhovich, G.* (2022). β-catenin-dependent endomesoderm specification appears to be a Bilateria-specific co-option. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.10.15.512282v1

Knabl P., Schauer A., Pomreinke A.P., Zimmermann B., Rogers K., Čapek D., Müller P., Genikhovich G.* (2024) Analysis of SMAD1/5 target genes in a sea anemone reveals ZSWIM4-6 as a novel BMP signaling modulator. eLife 13, e80803. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.80803

Lebedeva T., Aman A.J., Graf T., Niedermoser I., Zimmermann B., Kraus Y., Schatka M., Demilly A., Technau U., Genikhovich, G.* (2021) Cnidarian-bilaterian comparison reveals the ancestral regulatory logic of the β-catenin dependent axial patterning. Nature Communications 12, 4032. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24346-8

Kraus, Y.1, Aman, A., Technau, U.*, Genikhovich, G. 1,* (2016) Pre-bilaterian origin of the blastoporal axial organizer. Nature Communications 7, 11694. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11694

Genikhovich, G., Fried, P., Prünster, M.M., Schinko, J.B., Gilles, A.F., Fredman D., Meier, K., Iber, D., Technau, U. (2015) Axis patterning by BMPs: cnidarian network reveals evolutionary constraints. Cell Reports 10, 1646–1654. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2015.02.035

Saina, M.1, Genikhovich, G.1, Renfer, E. and Technau, U. (2009) BMPs and Chordin regulate patterning of the directive axis in a sea anemone. PNAS 106, 18592-18597. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0900151106

Full publication list: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4864-7770

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University of Helsinki students please note: If you wish to obtain credits (DPBM, ILS) from this seminar series, please sign the participant list in the lecture hall or use your first name + last name in Zoom.

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