Manja Marz

Manja Marz is a Full Professor for High Throughput Sequencing Analysis at the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, and an Associated Group Leader at the Leibniz Institute for Age Research - Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI). Her research group focuses on non-coding RNAs and their regulatory roles in aging processes through interdisciplinary approaches combining bioinformatics with wetlab techniques.

Her research interests include:

• Non-coding RNA identification and characterization in aging
• RNA:DNA triplex and G-quadruplex formations in genomic regulation
• High-throughput sequencing analysis, particularly RNA-Seq data
• Virus-bioinformatics and computational analysis of viral genomes
• Development of bioinformatics tools for ncRNA research

Dr. Marz holds leadership positions in several research initiatives:

• Founding member and board member of the Aging Research Center (ARC) Jena since 2013
• Founding member of the Michael Stifel Centre Jena for Data-Driven and Simulation Science since 2015
• Founding member, board member and managing director of the European Virus Bioinformatics Center since 2017
• Scientific advisory board member of RNA Central and Rfam since 2018

Her current research projects investigate ncRNAs as biomarkers of aging in mice and humans, the role of microRNAs in the short-living fish Nothobranchius furzeri, RNA:DNA triplexes in aging and cancer, and non-coding RNA elements in X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism.

Notably, Dr. Marz is also an accomplished Go player (4 dan) with leadership roles in Go federations across Germany and Europe, serving as president of the Go Federation Brandenburg-Saxony-Thuringia since 2004 and managing director of the Jena International Go School since 2018.