Personal profile
Biography
Dr. Marco Podobnik is a developmental, regenerative, and evolutionary biologist. He is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Prof. Peter Currie's laboratory at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute of Monash University (Clayton, Australia). His research focuses on signalling pathways that regulate growth and regeneration of skeletal muscle in zebrafish, a major model organism in biomedical research. In addition to zebrafish, he studies closely related danionin fish species, which are emerging as models for comparative biology and translational research.
Dr. Podobnik was awarded a Walter Benjamin Fellowship by the German Research Foundation (DFG), supporting his project for two years starting in January 2025, and the 2024 PhD Award from the German Society for Developmental Biology (GfE) for his work at the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen (Germany) under the supervision of Dr. Uwe Irion and Prof. Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard.
Dr. Podobnik is accepting students across all academic levels at Monash University in his role as Associate Supervisor. Inquiries via email.
Education/Academic qualification
Biology, Dr. rer. nat., On the Genetic Basis of Pigment Pattern Diversification in Danio Fish, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen (University of Tubingen)
18 Oct 2018 → 28 Feb 2023
Award Date: 14 Apr 2023
Research area keywords
- Developmental genetics
- Evolutionary biology
- Regenerative medicine
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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SDG 14 Life Below Water
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Genomic and genetic insights into speciation and pigment pattern diversification in Danio fishes
Lu, J., Podobnik, M., Huang, J., McCluskey, B. M., McCarthy, S. A., Wood, J., Collins, J., Torrance, J., Sims, Y., Gao, D., Huang, J., Liu, J., Fang, W., Huang, P., Ma, C., Parichy, D., Irion, U., Liu, J., Howe, K. & Postlethwait, J. H., 18 Oct 2025, bioRxiv, 2025 56 p.Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article › Research
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Efficient genome editing using modified Cas9 proteins in zebrafish
Dorner, L., Stratmann, B., Bader, L., Podobnik, M. & Irion, U., Apr 2024, In: Biology Open. 13, 4, 9 p., bio060401.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access3 Link opens in a new tab Citations (Scopus) -
kcnj13 regulates pigment cell shapes in zebrafish and has diverged by cis-regulatory evolution between Danio species
Podobnik, M., Singh, A. P., Fu, Z., Dooley, C. M., Frohnhöfer, H. G., Firlej, M., Stednitz, S. J., Elhabashy, H., Weyand, S., Weir, J. R., Lu, J., Nüsslein-Volhard, C. & Irion, U., Aug 2023, In: Development. 150, 16, 14 p., dev201627.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access2 Link opens in a new tab Citations (Scopus) -
Author Correction: Evolution of the potassium channel gene Kcnj13 underlies colour pattern diversification in Danio fish (Nature Communications, (2020), 11, 1, (6230), 10.1038/s41467-020-20021-6)
Podobnik, M., Frohnhöfer, H. G., Dooley, C. M., Eskova, A., Nüsslein-Volhard, C. & Irion, U., 1 Dec 2021, In: Nature Communications. 12, 1, 2 p., 3170.Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment / Debate › Other › peer-review
Open Access -
Evolution of the potassium channel gene Kcnj13 underlies colour pattern diversification in Danio fish
Podobnik, M., Frohnhöfer, H. G., Dooley, C. M., Eskova, A., Nüsslein-Volhard, C. & Irion, U., Dec 2020, In: Nature Communications. 11, 1, 13 p., 6230.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access19 Link opens in a new tab Citations (Scopus)