TEAM MEMBERS
to join us as a student or researcher, reach out to Patrick
PATRICK PAUSCH, PH.D.
Group Leader, Research Professor
Patrick obtained his PhD from Philipps University Marburg, Germany, after which he pursued a Postdoc at UC Berkeley, USA, before leading the Pausch Lab at the VU LSC-EMBL Partnership Institute for Genome Editing Technologies in Vilnius, Lithuania. During his PhD and postdoctoral work, Patrick investigated a range of nucleic acid interacting stress response factors and adaptive immune systems from bacteria, also contributing to the development of novel CRISPR genome editing tools derived from jumbo bacteriophages.
Beyond science, Patrick enjoys cycling in and around Vilnius and occasionally tours on his motorcycle. Patrick's other passions are traveling and rock climbing.
ROKAS GRIGAITIS, PH.D.
Post-Doctoral EMBO Fellow
Rokas was born and raised in Vilnius, where he obtained his BSc and MSc degrees in Biochemistry at Vilnius University. Rokas earned his doctorate in natural sciences with Prof. Joao Matos at ETH Zurich. Throughout his career, he has studied bacterial anti-phage defense systems, eukaryotic homologous recombination and DNA repair. In Dr. Pausch’s group, Rokas studies nucleic acid metabolism disrupting factors from bacteriophages, aiming to discover and develop a new generation of biotechnological tools.
Besides his scientific interests, Rokas enjoys doing sports, reading books and going on long hikes into the wilderness.
AISTĖ SKORUPSKAITĖ, PH.D.
Post-Doctoral LRC (LMT) Fellow
Aistė obtained her BSc in Biomolecular Science at the University of St Andrews where her final year project focused on developing a selectively labelled dimer of Streptococcal M protein. Following that, Aistė completed her doctorate at the University of Oxford working on structural and biochemical characterisation of metallo-β-lactamase superfamily enzymes. Aistė has also spent three years in biotechnology industry purifying difficult target proteins for diverse applications. In our lab, Aistė is studying structures of CRISPR-Cas systems to aid development of new genome editing tools.
Outside of the lab, Aistė enjoys playing board games, baking, and travelling.
MONIKA JASNAUSKAITĖ, M.SC.
Graduate Student and Laboratory Manager
Monika obtained her BSc and MSc degrees in Molecular biology at Vilnius university. During her Bachelor’s project, Monika researched the impact of chromatin remodeling agents on myeloid leukaemia cell lines. Throughout her Master’s project, she investigated In vitro evolution methods in order to increase reverse transcriptase resistance to inhibitors.
RIMVYDĖ ČEPAITĖ, M.SC.
Graduate Student
Rimvydė obtained her BSc in Microbiology and Biotechnology. During her Bachelor’s project, Rimvydė researched the bacteriocin gene expression in Paenibacillus sp. After her Bachelor’s studies, she interned at the University of Amsterdam where she investigated the functions of the EcPBP2-RodA protein complex in cell division. For her Master's thesis, Rimvydė characterized beta-carbonic anhydrases from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In Dr Pausch’s group, Rimvydė is investigating non canonical CRISPR-Cas systems, aiming to discover and develop new genome editing tools.
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SHARVIKA KHOCHARE, M.SC.
Graduate Student
Sharvika was born and raised in Mumbai, India, from where she obtained her bachelor degree in Biotechnology engineering before a short stint in the pharmaceutical industry producing recombinant proteins. Sharvika received her masters form Indian institute of Technology, Jodhpur, where she studied the role of RNA chaperones in virulence of Klebsiella pneumonia.
In the Pausch lab, Sharvika will be working on the identification of novel nucleic acid manipulating factors using functional genomics of large prokaryotic mobile genetic elements.
Besides her scientific interests, Sharvika enjoys sports and music.
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VIKTORAS RAGOŽIUS, M.SC.
Postgraduate intern
Viktoras earned his BSc in Genetics, specializing in the study of a novel class of noncoding circRNAs that play a role in various human physiological and pathological processes. Following his undergraduate studies, he undertook a summer internship at Delta Biosciences startup, contributing to a project focused on the development and field-testing of a proprietary drug candidate screening platform. The platform employed a cutting-edge combination of microdroplet sorting and next-generation sequencing technologies. For his Master's thesis in the field of Molecular Biology, Viktoras delved into the functional and structural characterization of protein-DNA complexes involved in the CRISPR-Cas adaptation stage. Currently, as a member of Dr. Pausch's group, Viktoras employs cryo-EM technique to unravel the structures of multi-subunit protein and DNA complexes.
UGNĖ VOLBEKAITĖ
M.Sc. Researcher
Ugnė obtained her BSc. Biological Sciences degree at University of Essex and is currently enrolled in Vilnius University's M.Sc. Molecular biology program. During her third-year research project at the University of Essex, Ugnė engineered synthetic biosensors to track the movement of hydrogen peroxide molecules under the oxidizing stress conditions in plant cells. In our lab, Ugnė works on her master's thesis under the supervision of Rimvyde Cepaite, studying CRISPR-Cas systems and applications in eukaryotic cells.
Besides Ugnė’s scientific interest, Ugnė is really passionate about cars and watching Formula 1 races (supporting the Scuderia Ferrari team), as well as photographing, fishing, hiking, and other sports.
KRISTINA KAZLAUSKAITĖ
Undergraduate Researcher
Kristina is currently pursuing a B.Sc. degree in Biochemistry at Vilnius University. She is an intern in Dr Pausch’s group and is studying research methods of biochemistry and molecular biology and their applications under the supervision Monika Jasnauskaite.
Aside from her studies, Kristina enjoys drawing, painting, going for walks, and reading about nature and psychology.
GINTARĖ ŽVEJYTĖ
Undergraduate Researcher
Gintarė is an undergraduate student at Vilnius University, pursuing a BSc degree in Molecular Biology. She is doing an internship at Dr Pausch’s lab learning about methods of molecular biology and biochemistry. In her free time, she volunteers at a non-profit educational organization LGMOA – Oranžiniai that focuses on the organisation of natural sciences olympiads and educational programs for school students.
MARTYNA STANKEVIČIŪTĖ
Undergraduate Researcher
Martyna is a 3rd year Molecular Biotechnology B.Sc. student at Vilnius University. In our lab, Martyna studies molecular biology research methods under the supervision Monika Jasnauskaite.
Outside studies, Martyna volunteers in non-formal children education organizations like Scouts and summer camps, learn about Bioinformatics and participate in trivia game nights. Martyna's hobbies include bike-packing, camping, volleyball and music.
AUGUSTAS CIBULSKIS
Undergraduate Researcher
Augustas is pursuing a BSc degree in Molecular Biology at Vilnius University. He is an intern in Dr. Pausch's lab under the supervision of Monika Jasnauskaitė. The focus of his internship is prokaryotic antiviral defense systems. He is also an alumnus of the Vilnius-Lithuania iGEM team, where he worked on solving problems using synthetic biology.
Outside his studies, Augustas enjoys trivia game nights and stays active with cycling, running, and team sports.
Pausch lab alumni
2023
Daria Ponomariova (M.Sc. intern)
Aiste Zidonyte (Undergrad intern)