Sonya Widen joins Pathway to Independence Programme
12.05.2025
Sonya Widen, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Alejandro Burga at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA) was named one of eight fellows selected for this year’s prestigious Pathway to Independence Programme by the Company of Biologists.
Designed to support outstanding postdocs on their journey to becoming Principal Investigators, the program offers targeted career development workshops, networking opportunities, and one-on-one mentorship. Each fellow is matched with an experienced group leader in developmental biology, who provides critical hands-on guidance to help shape and launch the fellows’ independent research careers.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to build on the skills I've already gained through the Vienna BioCenter’s outstanding career development workshops,” Widen comments. “The program offers invaluable guidance as I take the next steps toward becoming a principal investigator. I hope to learn more about navigating the academic job market, shaping my research program, and learning how to run a lab effectively.”
Sonya Widen obtained her PhD in molecular biology and genetics from the University of Alberta in Canada, where she used zebrafish to study early vertebrate eye development and disease. In 2019, she joined Alejandro Burga’s lab at IMBA, where she uses nematodes as a model to explore how selfish genes and mobile DNA elements drive genome evolution. In 2023, she contributed to the discovery of how virus-like transposons known as Mavericks can act as recurrent vectors for widespread horizontal gene transfer. This discovery was published in the journal Science.
Looking ahead, Widen aims to establish an independent research group to further explore the complex interaction between mobile genetic elements and their host genomes. “In recent years, the scientific community has shown that this relationship is much more complex than we thought. Indeed, transposons are not simply genetic parasites but can be co-opted to build new regulatory sequences and can even have crucial roles in embryonic development,” Widen explains. “I'm really curious to dig deeper into this, especially looking at how horizontal gene transfer might shape animal development and evolution by moving very specific genes between specie.”