EPFL PhD student wins 2025 Birnstiel Award
Vojislav Gligorovski. Credit: IMP
Vojislav Gligorovski, a PhD student in Sahand Jamal Rahi’s lab at EPFL, has been named one of six winners of the 2025 Birnstiel Award for Doctoral Studies in Molecular Life Sciences.
Established in 2019 by the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna, the Birnstiel Award recognizes “the exceptional achievements of up to six PhD students in molecular life sciences from anywhere in the world”. It is named after Max Birnstiel, a molecular biologist and the IMP’s founding director, whose work helped establish Austria as a hub for world-class biomedical research.
Each year, a select group of laureates is chosen from a global pool of institutional nominations, with the 2025 edition attracting 87 candidates. Among the six awardees is Vojislav Gligorovski, a PhD student at EPFL supervised by Professor Sahand Jamal Rahi.
Gligorovski developed a method for continuously evolving dynamic proteins directly in living cells. These proteins, which switch between functional states, are critical in biological research and medical applications but notoriously difficult to engineer.
To address this, Gligorovski re-engineered the cell cycle of budding yeast so that the survival of each cell depended on the precise activity of a target protein. This setup enabled natural selection to optimize both the “on” and “off” states of the protein during each cell cycle.
By adding light as a control element, he further introduced the ability to fine-tune the timing of selective pressure. Using this approach, he and his colleagues improved several widely used molecular systems, including a light-sensitive transcription factor, a red light-controlled protein interaction system, and the commonly used Tet-on switch.
The results open new possibilities for designing smart, controllable proteins that could benefit both basic research and therapeutic development.
Read the paper: Gligorovski et al 2025
Gligorovski adds: “Our approach complements the current efforts in the AI design of switchable proteins, including by our own lab, through the MAKE project: Designing life with AI, led by Bachelor students.”
The 2025 Birnstiel laureates will be honored at a ceremony on November 5 in Vienna, where each will receive a trophy, certificate, and €2,000 in prize money. The award is jointly organized by the IMP and the Max Birnstiel Foundation.