Experience

BioMed X Institute

• Germany
• Biotechnology Research
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Group Leader Protective Tissue Factors in Autoimmune Diseases

  • Aug 2021 - Present



University of Zurich

• Switzerland
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Junior Group Leader in Integrative biology of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases

  • Mar 2020 - Jul 2021

  Focus: Stromal cell plasticity and immuno-stromal cell networks in inflammatory arthritis, autoimmune fibrosis and vasculitis. Unique and shared immunostromal cell features across organs and inflammatory pathologies. Construction of 3D cell-based disease models. Main goals: Novel drug targets and mechanisms of drug resistance for accelerated development of targeted therapies and precision medicine.Methodologies: single-cell omics and spatial transcriptomic, molecular biology, flow cytometry, microscopy, epigenomics, metabolomics. Group: a collaborative and multidisciplinary team of molecular biologists, data scientists, bioengineers and clinicians. The link to our webpage:http://www.en.rheumatologie.usz.ch/research/CER/Pages/Frank-Bertoncelj.aspx

• Research Associate

  • May 2018 - Mar 2020

  Main research focus: functional genomics of fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) and contribution of FLS to heritability of rheumatoid arthritis.Our preprint "Functional genomics atlas of synovial fibroblasts defining rheumatoid arthritis heritability" with my shared first authorship available at https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.16.20248230v1.

• Postdoctoral Researcher

  • Jan 2012 - Apr 2018

  Main research focus: how joint-specific epigenetic, transcriptomic and functional characteristic of fibroblast-like synoviocytes shape distinct synovial joint microenvironments across human body and contribute to inflammatory arthritis.Our publications: "Epigenetically-driven anatomical diversity of synovial fibroblasts guides joint-specific fibroblast functions" available at https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14852&"Why location matters — site-specific factors in rheumatic diseases" available at https://www.nature.com/articles/nrrheum.2017.96?WT.feed_name=subjects_genetics

• ARTICULUM Research Fellow

  • Jan 2011 - Dec 2011

  Awardee of the ARTICULUM Research Fellowship in arthritis and pain (33'000 EUR, Vienna Medical Academy, Austria) for the project “Identification of microRNA in synovial cell-derived microparticles and their role in rheumatoid arthritis



University Medical Centre Ljubljana

• Slovenia
• Hospitals and Health Care
• 500 - 600 Employee

• Postdoctoral Research Associate

  • May 2010 - Dec 2010



Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana

• Slovenia
• Higher Education
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Young Investigator, PhD Student

  • Nov 2006 - Apr 2010



University Medical Centre Ljubljana

• Slovenia
• Hospitals and Health Care
• 500 - 600 Employee

• Medical Doctor, Emergency Medicine, Pediatric Rheumatology

  • Apr 2006 - Oct 2006