Dr. Nosek received a Ph.D. in genetics in 1994 and a D.Sc. in molecular biology in 2006, both from Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. He did postdoctoral work at the Institut Curie, Centre Universitaire Paris XI. He twice received the Young Scientist Award from Comenius University, as well as an Outstanding Junior Researcher award. In 2001 he was named Young Czech and Slovak Microbiologist of the Year by the Czech and Slovak Microbiological Society; in 2002, he received an EMBO fellowship. He is currently professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Comenius University, in Bratislava, Slovakia. This is his second HHMI International Research Scholar award.

Jozef Nosek investigates the molecular architecture and replication of chromosomes present in yeast mitochondria. His lab uses yeast species that harbor linear mitochondrial genomes and their circularized mutant derivatives as a model system to understand how linear chromosomes and pathways for maintenance of telomeres, the chromosomes' terminal structures, arose in evolution.