Sebastian Greiss

Dr. Sebastian Greiss serves as a Chancellor's Fellow at the Centre for Integrative Physiology within the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on developing and applying unnatural amino acid technology to study neuronal circuits in C. elegans, addressing fundamental questions about nervous system function.

• PhD, University of Dundee (2003-2008)
• Diploma in Biochemistry, University of Bayreuth (2002)

Greiss pioneers genetic code expansion in multicellular organisms, creating light-activatable proteins through photo-caged amino acids to precisely control neuronal activity in freely moving C. elegans. His work bridges molecular engineering and systems neuroscience, using the worm's compact 302-neuron nervous system to decode how sensory inputs transform into behavioral outputs. Key innovations include tissue-specific proteomics and optogenetic control at single-protein resolution.

His publication record shows consistent advancement in genetic code expansion from 2008-2014, transitioning from foundational work on sirtuins and apoptosis to breakthroughs in C. elegans and Drosophila genetic engineering. The research demonstrates increasing technical sophistication, moving from in vitro studies to in vivo applications in complex organisms with featured publications in Nature Biotechnology and Nature Chemical Biology.

Greiss leads an active research group funded by the European Research Council, mentoring PhD students and postdoctoral fellows. His collaborative network spans the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, Technical University Munich, and multiple Edinburgh research centers. Current work focuses on applying unnatural amino acid technology to dissect neuronal circuit function with unprecedented precision.

• Zhiyan Xi (PhD Student)
• Lloyd Davis (Postdoctoral Fellow)
• Andromachi Xypnitou (Research Associate)