Ulrike Kutay PhD

Ulrike Kutay is a full professor of Biochemistry at the Department of Biology at the ETH in Zurich. She studied Biochemistry in Berlin, where she obtained her PhD on the integration of tail-anchored proteins into the ER membrane. During her postdoc in Heidelberg, she investigated the mechanisms governing nucleo-cytoplasmic transport. At the ETH in Zurich, Ulrike and her group explore the organization, function, and dynamics of the human cell nucleus. The work of her team helped to unravel the mechanisms governing nuclear envelope breakdown for open mitosis, membrane protein targeting to the inner nuclear membrane, the biogenesis and organization of NE-spanning LINC complexes, as well as the mechanisms driving the assembly of ribosomal subunits. Ulrike Kutay received an ERC Advanced Grant (2012), the ETH Zurich Alea Award (2020), the SNSF Advanced Grant (2022), and is an elected member of EMBO (2010), the Leopoldina (2012), and the Academy of Europe (2014). She has been Chair of the Institute of Biochemistry of ETH Zurich and served as the President of the ETH Zurich Strategy Committee.