Marijonas Tutkus

About Marijonas

Marijonas Tutkus during undergraduate studies at Dr Ramūnas Valiokas laboratory (FTMC) gained experience with the fluorescence microscopy, DNA biochips and DNA methylation. Later during graduate studies and research assistant work in prof. Dimitrios Stamou laboratory (Copenhagen University) he gained experience with SM TIRF microscopy, confocal microscopy, transmembrane proteins, liposomes, SM signal acquisition and analysis. Next, in Lithuania, he joined the Biophysical Research Laboratory (FTMC) where he in 2019 obtained a PhD degree in Physics. His PhD studies were focused on SM level fluorescence microscopy of DNA-protein interactions and ultrafast spectroscopy of light-harvesting antenna proteins. Right after finishing PhD studies he got a postdoc grant (Supervisor Dr. Mindaugas Zaremba) dedicated to SM level studies of prokaryotic Argonaute proteins’ target search mechanism in vitro and in vivo. Almost at the same time he got a grant as PI from Research Council of Lithuania for studying target search mechanisms of CRISPR-Cas proteins’ using in vitro assays such as his developed Soft DNA Curtains, and in vivo SM tracking methods. Recently he got an EMBL fellowship grant for studying DNA double-strand break repair inside living cells. Currently, he is working in the Department of Protein DNA interaction studies VU and also at Molecular COmpounds Physics Department at FTMC where he is continuing SM studies of various NA-interacting proteins, developing platforms for NA-protein interaction studies, fluorescence microscope software/hardware development, and other research. Marijonas started "building" his own research team during his PhD studies since 2015 summer. In 2017, when he got the first grant, and now he has a multidisciplinary team of BSs, MSc and PhD students under his supervision. Since 2017 he is teaching bachelor level students at the Life Sciences Center of VU (“Quantitative fluorescence microscopy” and “Single-molecule and cellular biophysics methods” courses), and this year got promoted to an Associate Professor position. Marijonas established international collaborations with D. Stamou (University of Copenhagen), N. Hatzakis (University of Copenhagen), J. Hohlbein (Wageningen UR, The Netherlands), J. Ries (EMBL, Heidelberg), P. Dedecker (KU Leuven, Belgium), Polina Kuzhir (University of Eastern Finland). He has active local collaborations with groups at FTMC: Dr. Ramūnas Valiokas (head of Nanoengineering department), and prof. Vidmantas Gulbinas / prof. Leonas Valkūnas (Head of Molecular Compounds Physics department), and VU: prof. S. Klimašauskas (Head of Department of Biological DNA Modification), S. K. Jones, A. Toleikis (Molecular motors’ group leader).