Ule Jernej

Jernej Ule is a Professor of Neurodegeneration research and Centre Director at the UK Dementia Research Institute (UKDRI) at King’s College London. He obtained his BSc at University of Ljubljana and Ph.D. in molecular neuroscience from the Rockefeller University in New York. In 2006 he started his own research group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, then moved with his team first to the University College London in 2013 and then to the Francis Crick Institute in London in 2016. In 2022 he took on his current role of the UKDRI centre at King’s, where most of his team is now located, while he retains a satellite of 3 members at the Crick Institute until 2027. He also co-supervises several members in the RNA biology team at the Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana, which co-hosts his current European Research Council grant. He is happy to host a summer student either in London or Ljubljana, according to the available space.

Research projects: We study how RNA networks maintain cellular homeostasis, and how their disruption leads to neurodegenerative disease such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We identify protein-RNA and RNA-RNA interactions with transcriptomic methods such as iCLIP (individual-nucleotide resolution CLIP) and hybrid iCLIP (hiCLIP) that we developed. We thereby uncover the roles of RNA sequences, structures and positional regulatory patterns (RNA maps) that guide the assembly and function of protein-RNA complexes. We also study the disordered regions of proteins and their roles in the formation and functions of protein-RNA condensates. We thereby aim to understand the mechanisms that regulate alternative splicing, mRNA localisation, stability and translation, and we also study how these mechanisms have evolved. Based on all these insights, we’re developing new molecular tools to promote protein homeostasis and thus to counteract the formation of toxic protein aggregates in diseases. For more information, visit www.ulelab.info.