image: Assistant Professor Jack Bravo joins ISTA to re-engineer bacterial immune systems for new gene editing tools.
Credit: © ISTA
The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) welcomes Assistant Professor Jack Bravo. Bravo brings a solid background in structural biology, biophysics, and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) techniques. He earned his PhD in 2019 from the University of Leeds, where he studied virus assemblies. During a postdoctoral fellowship at The University of Texas at Austin, he specialized in bacterial immune systems and cryo-EM. At ISTA, he aims to explore the untapped potential of bacterial immune systems, focusing on optimizing them for genome engineering—a field that holds promise for applications such as re-sensitizing antibiotic-resistant bacteria, also known as superbugs, to antimicrobial therapies.
Bravo's multidisciplinary background enables him to conduct detailed research in uncovering and re-engineering microbial defense mechanisms for improved specificity and efficacy in genome editing. As he starts his tenure track position at ISTA, Bravo’s efforts aim to pave the way for innovative biotech applications, with potential impacts on medical treatments and microbial research. He looks forward to further developing his team and engaging with fellow researchers from diverse scientific backgrounds.
Read more about Bravo and his work in his interview on the ISTA website:
https://ista.ac.at/en/news/re-engineering-bacterial-defense-systems/