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Virginijus Šikšnys

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Virginijus Šikšnys
Born (1956-01-26) 26 January 1956 (age 68)
NationalityLithuanian
Alma materVilnius University (BSc)
Lomonosov Moscow State University (PhD)
Known for
Awards
  • Lithuanian state Science award (2001)
  • St. Christopher award for the merits in science from the Vilnius City Council (2015)
  • Novozymes Prize (2017)
  • Kavli Prize in Nanoscience (2018)
  • Baltic Assembly Prize for Science (2021)
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry
InstitutionsVilnius University Institute of Biotechnology
Lithuanian Academy of Sciences

Virginijus Šikšnys (born 26 January 1956) is a Lithuanian biochemist and a professor at Vilnius University. He is a chief scientist at the Vilnius University Institute of Biotechnology.

Biography

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Šikšnys studied organic chemistry at Vilnius University, receiving his Bachelor's degree in 1978.[1] He then moved to Lomonosov Moscow State University, where he studied enzyme kinetics and received the Candidate of Sciences degree (equivalent to PhD at that time) in 1983.[1] His PhD advisor was Karel Martinek from, at that time, Czechoslovakia.[2]

From 1982 till 1993 he worked at the Institute of Applied Enzymology in Vilnius. In 1993 he was a visiting scientist in Robert Huber’s laboratory at the Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie, Martinsried, Germany. Since 1995 Šikšnys is the chief scientist and head of the Department of Protein-DNA Interactions at the Vilnius University Institute of Biotechnology, since 2006 – professor at Vilnius University and a member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, since 2007 – chair of the Institute of Biotechnology Council.[3][4]

In 2017, Šikšnys co-founded a gene-editing company "Caszyme".[5]

Research

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The research interests of Šikšnys include structure-function relationships of enzymes involved in nucleic acids metabolism. Šikšnys and members of his laboratory perform biochemical, biophysical and structural studies of proteins involved in bacterial antiviral defense, including restriction endonucleases and CRISPR-Cas systems. Šikšnys has co-authored more than 90 scientific publications and filled 5 patent applications. For more than two decades Šikšnys’ lab was focused on restriction endonucleases. Together with colleagues from UK, Poland, Germany and other countries, Šikšnys has performed biochemical studies of more than 20 restriction endonucleases, and solved approximately one third (~15 out of ~50) of currently available restriction endonuclease tertiary structures, some of them in collaboration with the Nobel Prize laureate Robert Huber.

Publication of CRISPR-Cas

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Since 2007 Šikšnys focused on mechanistic studies of CRISPR-Cas, the newly discovered bacterial antiviral systems, and was among the first to demonstrate programmable DNA cleavage by the Cas9 protein.[6][7][8][9] According to Šikšnys, his article was not even considered as serious by the editor board of the academic journal and was not sent to the reviewers, therefore the time needed to be recognized as first was lost.[10] Martin Schlak reported that Šikšnys submitted his article describing DNA cleavage by Cas9 to Cell Reports on 18 April 2012. After its rejection without peer review, he sent it to PNAS one month later, and it took several months for review and publication. In the meantime, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier had published their findings in Science where their findings were reviewed and accepted within two weeks.[11]

The genome editing technology based on Cas9 was licensed to DuPont.[12][13]

Honours and awards

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Prof. Dr Virginijus Šikšnys". Vilnius University. Archived from the original on 4 May 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Because of Great Teachers As told by Virginijus Šikšnys". Kavli Prize. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  3. ^ "Šikšnys Virginijus". Lietuva, T. IV (Biografijos R-Ž, Papildymai A-Ž) [Lithuania, vol. IV (Biographies R-Z)] (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos centras. 2015. p. 483. ISBN 978-5-420-01758-6.
  4. ^ "Šikšnys Virginijus". "Asmenybės. 1990–2015 m. "Lietuvos pasiekimai": apžvalgų ir biografijų rinkinys, T. II [Personalitties. 1990–2015."Lithuania achievements": reviews and biographies set, vol. II] (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Leidybos idėjų centras. 2015. p. 1036. ISBN 978-609-95578-4-7.
  5. ^ Thornton, Jacqui (1 May 2024). "A snapshot of Lithuania's life-sciences landscap". Nature. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  6. ^ Sarah Zhang (4 October 2015). "The Battle Over Genome Editing Gets Science All Wrong". Wired. wired.com. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  7. ^ Lander, Eric S. (2016). "The Heroes of CRISPR". Cell. 164 (1–2). Elsevier BV: 18–28. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2015.12.041. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 26771483. S2CID 14638685.
  8. ^ Gasiunas, G.; Barrangou, R.; Horvath, P.; Siksnys, V. (4 September 2012). "Cas9-crRNA ribonucleoprotein complex mediates specific DNA cleavage for adaptive immunity in bacteria". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 109 (39): E2579–E2586. doi:10.1073/pnas.1208507109. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 3465414. PMID 22949671.
  9. ^ "Science Rewards Eureka Moments, Except When It Doesn't". NPR.org. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  10. ^ Šikšnys, Virginijus (16 June 2018). "Imam genų žirkles, iškerpam klaidą, ligos nelieka". Laisvės TV / Freedom TV (in Lithuanian). 12:22 minutes in. LaisvėsTV. <...>Tai mes tą savo straipsnį išsiuntėm į redakciją pirmieji, bet laimės ten daug nebuvo. Viena redakcija pasakė, kad mes net recenzentam nesiųsim. Nusiuntėm į kitą redakciją – tai jis (straipsnis) pragulėjo kažkur ant redaktoriaus stalo labai ilgai. Na ir taip galų gale išsiuntėm į trečią žurnalą ir trečias žurnalas po kelių mėnesių jį išspausdino. Bet, aišku, Berklio universiteto mokslininkams sekėsi geriau – jie išsiuntė straipsnį į žurnalą Science – jį priėmė ir išspausdino per 2 savaites. Nors iš tikro jie tą straispnį išsiuntė pora mėnesių vėliau nei mes. Retrieved 30 June 2018. <...>Well, we were who had sent the article first, but had not much of luck. One editorial office told us they would not send the article to the reviewers. We had sent the article to another journal – and the article was kept too long, maybe on some desk of the editor. So finally we sent it to the third journal and it was published few months later. Meanwhile the scientists from the University of Berkeley had a better luck – they have sent the article later than we and it was accepted and published in 2 weeks. But actually they have sent the article few months later than we.
  11. ^ Martin Schlak (18 October 2019). "Der wahre Mister Crispr". Der Spiegel (in German). Spiegel Online. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  12. ^ "DuPont Pioneer Gains Exclusive License for Genome-Editing Technology from Vilnius University". 23 June 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  13. ^ Grushkin, Daniel (2016). "DuPont in CRISPR-Cas patent land grab". Nature Biotechnology. 34 (1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 13. doi:10.1038/nbt0116-13. ISSN 1087-0156. PMID 26744967. S2CID 205265113.
  14. ^ "Paskelbti mokslo premijų laureatai, tarp jų – V. Šikšniui ir komandai". Lithuanian National Radio and Television. 5 February 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  15. ^ Cohen, Jon (4 June 2018). "With prestigious prize, an overshadowed CRISPR researcher wins the spotlight". Science. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). doi:10.1126/science.aau3736. ISSN 0036-8075. S2CID 158427487.
  16. ^ Guglielmi, Giorgia (31 May 2018). "Million-dollar Kavli prize recognizes scientist scooped on CRISPR". Nature. 558 (7708). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 17–18. Bibcode:2018Natur.558...17G. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-05308-5. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 29872189. S2CID 46949947.
  17. ^ "Lietuvos mokslininkas pripažintas pasauliniu mastu: su kolegomis pasidalins 1 mln. dolerių". DELFI. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
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