Lab News!
Selected Talks and Presentations by Group Members
Awards, Fellowships and Recognitions for Group Members
July 2023 - Ute's inaugural lecture (Antrittsvorlesung) at FSU Jena and a big lab reunion with almost all our previous members and very special guests!!! An abolutely unforgettable day!!!
May 2023 - The first Thuringian 800 MHz spectrometer moves in! The highest field in the state now available at the NMR platform Jena thanks to the generous support of the European Union, the Thuringian Ministry of Economy, Science and Digital Society (TMWWDG), and the FSU Jena!
May 2023 - Lab BBQ in Jena's own paradise to celebrate Dania's and Mai's successful PhD defenses! Congratulations and thank you for organizing a wonderful party!
March 2023 - Congratulations, Dr Mai! Mai succesfully defended her PhD thesis! In probably one of our most interdisciplinary projects yet, she showed how much bacterial membrane transporters depend on their lipid environment, what a polymer chemist can do to keep them happy, how to use these tricks to tame other membrane receptors, why you even need all these membrane proteins in the first place... oh, and a small side project on TRP channels!
Looking forward to the next steps in this exciting project together with Stallforth Lab! :-)
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE AND ALL THE BEST FOR 2023!!!!
12/2022 - Enjoying the beautiful Jena Christmas Market (for some their first Christmas Market visit ever!) with roasted almonds, Thuringia sausages, and mulled wine! (not neccessarily in that order...)
Nov 2022 - Congratulations, Dr Dania!
Dania succesfully defended her PhD thesis on the structural dynamics of ABC transporters. In her work, she was able to show how remote regions in these protein's nucleotide binding domain communicate via conserved functional motifs, the role lipids play for transport and that there are some interesting differences between closely related ABCs.
During her work, Dania was supported by a Hans Böckler Foundation PhD fellowship and spent time in the labs of our friends at CNRS Lyon and Groningen University.
Congratulations Dania and all the best for the next steps in Jena! See you around ;-)
Ice Skating!!!
12/2022 - To enjoy the winter weather, we went ice skating with our friends from the Pohnert and Hertweck Labs! Thank you very much for the invitation, we had such a blast!
HALLOWEEN 2022!!!
August 2022 - Enjoying the last days of summer with a wonderful garden party with current and future lab members and our friends from the Stallforth Lab!!!
August 2022 - Enjoying the last days of summer with a wonderful garden party with old and new lab members and our friends from the Stallforth Lab!!!
August 2022 - Enjoying the last days of summer with a wonderful garden party with old and new lab members and our friends from the Stallforth Lab!!!
06/2022 - Welcome BBQ for new postdoc Aditya and good-bye party for Fulbright fellow Zoe!
We are/were excited to have you both in the group! Zoe, we are glad you got to enjoy Europe to its fullest and all the best for your upcoming PhD in Princeton!!!
Feb 2022 - Kira succesfully defends her Master thesis in which she looked at the function, folding and inhibition of essential enzymes from protozoan parasites! Congratulations, Kira!
Mar/Apr 2022 - and the science fun continues with Vivien and Sabrina, who join us for their BSc theses to investigate the structural dynamics of parasitic and bacterial proteins!
Already 4 papers accepted on TRPV4 and friends this year! The latest one is a joint effort by Christoph, Bene and Zoe with help from Frederike and former MSc student Pauline on the extent of disorder in TRPV channel N-termini! Congrats everyone!
Jan/Feb 2022 - We welcome new interns to the lab!
Florian will work on TRP channels and neuropathies, Natia on enzymes from Neglected Tropical Disease pathogens and Inam on all things trypanosomes... enjoy your time in the lab!
Halloween 2021!
Sep 2021 - We welcome Alina and Jean, who will carry out their PhD theses with us and Zoe, who joins us from UC Berkeley with a Fulbright Fellowship! Alina will work on membrane proteins involved in microbial communication, Jean will look at trypanosome enzyme dynamics and ligand binding and Zoe will investigate TRP channel structural dynamics!
August 2021 - Congratulations, Dr Erika!
Erika succesfully defended her PhD thesis about the many faces of the human TRPV4 ion channel in Mainz. In her work, she was able to structurally pinpoint the binding sites of multiple regulatory partners of TRPV4 on the channel (e.g. Nature Commun 2021).
During her work, Erika was supported by numerous fellowships including a Fulbright PhD Fellowship which allowed her to work with our friends, the Sumner Lab at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore for six months. In addition, Erika collaborated with chemists (Chemistry 2020), pharmacologists (J Med Chem 2021) and other members from our lab (e.g. Angewandte 2019) on a number of topics.
July 2021
Our first lab BBQ in Jena!
Finally... ... and only the first of many!!!
June 2021
The best lab meetings are the ones where everyone shines bright... Yes, we are still zooming, but so are our thoughts and ideas :-)
May/Jun 2021 - The more the merrier!
A warm welcome to Hannah, Katja and Kira who will join or growing team in Jena! Hannah joins us as a technical assistant with expertise in cell biology, Katja is our new team assistant and Kira will work on her master thesis on essential enzymes from neglected tropical disease pathogens!
We are very grateful to be supported by a grant from the Helaba together with our colleagues from Goethe-University Frankfurt and the Covid-19 NMR initiative to work on the molecular basis of interaction of biomolecules in vaccine formulations against infectious diseases (see press releases here, here or here)
More happy news in March and April 2021...
Pauline submitted her Master thesis on TRP channel structural dynamics! Congratulations! Pauline's work constitutes the last MSc thesis that we had the pleasure to host in our lab in Mainz (and during a pandemic no less!)
Now, as we are getting ready to greet the first undergrads in Jena...
... we also want to take the opportunity for a big thank you to all the Master/Bachelor students and interns that worked with us over the last few years in Mainz! You were amazing & we count ourselves very lucky to have worked with you!
In other exciting news, in Jena, our team is steadily growing. In April, Annika is back as a postdoc, Christoph joins us as a postdoc from Halle University and Emma is our first Bachelor student in Jena! Welcome, great to have you all on board!
March 2021 - papers, papers, papers, papers!
This month, we are happy to announce that a total of four papers were accepted for publication! This includes the last two master pieces by Patrick on Rhodesain, a joint study with the Sumner group which features the work Erika did on TRPV4 at Johns Hopkins with a Fulbright Fellowship and our review on TRP channel intrinsically disordered regions. We are particularly happy that undergrad Jean participated in this study that it will be featured in a JMB Special Edition on Ion Channels!
Unstructural Biology of TRP Ion Channels: The Role of Intrinsically Disordered Regions in Channel Function and Regulation
Systematic comparison of 175 transient receptor potential ion channel structures with regard to intrinsic disorder and the role of these regions and their post-translational modifications for channel function.
Journal of Molecular Biology, doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2021.166931
Structure, interdomain dynamics and pH-dependent autoactivation of pro-rhodesain, the main lysosomal cysteine protease from African trypanosomes
First structure of a trypanosomal CatL protease in the autoinhibited form reveals a pH sensitive salt bridge that explains how the parasites can avoid premature autocleavage!
Journal of Biological Chemistry, in press
Neuropathy-causing TRPV4 mutations disrupt TRPV4-RhoA interactions and impair neurite extension
Work with the Sumner Lab: the first time the phenotype-specific loss of a TRPV4-protein interaction has been observed! This explains how neuropathy but not skeletal dysplasia channelopathy mutants affect neurite outgrowth!
Nature Communications, 12(1):1444
Warhead Reactivity Limits the Speed of Inhibition of the Cysteine Protease Rhodesain
Study with the Neuweiler and Schirmeister labs on the surprising finding that the reactivity of a specific warhead, and not binding of the peptidic recognition unit, limits the rate constant of protease inhibition.
ACS Chemical Biology, doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.0c00911
Mar 2021 - Congratulations, Dr Annika!
Annika successfully defended her PhD! Annika figured out how a small, covalent inhibitor leads to the unexpected dimerization of an essential enzyme from African trypanosomes (Wagner et al. 2019, Angew. Chem.), how 19F NMR can help to study inhibitor binding (Dietschreit, Wagner et al 2020, Angew. Chem.) and how the unique lysosomal domain of the human TRPML2 ion channel is regulated by pH (Viet*, Wagner* et al 2019, Structure).
Oh, she also (co-)authored another eight papers and there is something going on with dinosaurs, but that's for another time and place.... 🙂
Today we celebrated Dr Annika via zoom, but we will hopefully repeat this in person soon!!!
February 2021
We welcome Sabine who joins the team as our new technician! In addition, Nina is back for her MSc thesis in collaboration with the Schindelin lab in Würzburg! So great to have you join the group again! Good luck with your project and lots of fun!
Jan 2021: Moving to Jena - despite the pandemic and a snow storm...
Packing boxes (sooo many boxes) in our lab in Mainz...
... and trying to not forget the most important pieces of equipment! 🙂
And there are even more boxes... who knew a lab consists of SO MUCH STUFF?!?
Unpacking in our new labs in Jena and everybody is in a great mood, because there are so many exciting science adventures with our new colleagues ahead!
Thank you all for welcoming us so warmly!!!
We officially joined the Institute of Organic & Macromolecular Chemistry & the Microverse Cluster!!!
(Here's a pic of us on the IOMC balcony when we visited last summer)
Dec 2020 - Congratulations, Dr Bene!
Bene successfully defended his PhD! For his exciting work on TRP ion channels and spider silk proteins in the framework of the Max Planck Graduate Center he received his degree summa cum laude! Bene's highly dynamic studies show that structure is not everything when elucidating protein function and that "where there is a will, there is a way" when trying to extract information out of a truly unruly protein. 🙂
The lab party was hosted via zoom, but we will certainly have that BBQ once we can all meet in person again!!!
Dec 2020 - Congratulations Nadine for submitting your Bachelor thesis!
Nadine's work on trypanosomal redox enzymes and their inhibition presents the 25th and final Bachelor thesis we had the pleasure to host at Uni Mainz in the last 5 years. But we will certainly follow up on Nadine's exciting results in Jena, soon...
Dec 2020 - Congratulations, Dr Patrick!
Patrick succesfully defended his PhD thesis! In another highly successful collaboration between the Schirmeister and Hellmich labs, Patrick worked on the trypanosomal cysteine protease rhodesain, which allows the parasites to cross the blood-brain barrier of the human host. He obtained the first crystal structure of a trypanosomal CathL-like zymogen and discovered a new structural motif that explains the pH-dependent pro-rhodesain autocleavage mechanism so that the enzyme becomes activated only once it reaches the lysosome! An important regulatory mechanism that may potentially be used to interfere with rhodesain function for novel anti-trypanosomal drugs!
Dr Patrick, congratulations, we are very proud of you and we will miss you and your unique sense of humor that always made us laugh even when the going was tough!
Nov 2020 - Congratulations, Dr Franzi!
Franzi succesfully defended her PhD! As a joint student between the Schirmeister & Hellmich labs, she worked on novel allosteric inhibitors against Dengue and Zika viruses, described the strictly intramolecular autocleavage process of the Zika virus NS2B-NS3 protease and made the (lab) world brighter every day! Congratulations, Dr. Franzi, we are proud of you!
October 2020
23.10.2020 - Julius has submitted his Bachelor thesis, congratulations!
September 2020
14.09.2020 - Welcome back Nina for your Forschungsmodul!
14.09.2020 - Dhana has submitted her Bachelor thesis! Congratulations!
11.09.2020 - Time to say good-bye... Julia is going from working with molecules to entire zebrafish and will pursue her PhD in Leipzig - good luck with everything, we will miss you!!!
1.9.2020 - Our joint paper with the Waldvogel group was accepted in Chemistry! Congratulations Lars and Erika!
Summer 2020
03.07.2020
Today we welcome our new Bachelor student, Nadine, who will work on the molecular mechanism and inhibition of an oxidoreductase from the parasite T. cruzi which causes Chagas disease in South America and - due to climate change - maybe soon here, too.
June/July 2020
We are happy to share multiple papers dealing with novel inhibitors for trypanosomal enzymes that were published together with our collaborators, the Schirmeister, Opatz and Tenzer Labs in Mainz and the Engels Lab in Würzburg! Read more here, here or here! Congratulations to everyone!
01.04.2020
We won't let the corona virus let us forget that there are more diseases that need to be fought: Eric joins the ranks as a PhD student and fellow of the GRK2015 "LIfe Sciences, Life Writing". He will work on inhibitors and the molecular mechanisms of essential enzymes from the parasite causing African Sleeping Sickness and related diseases such as Chagas disease or leishmaniasis affecting millions worldwide! Welcome!
01.05.2020
In these unusual times, we are happy to welcome three new group members! Marta joins us as a postdoc from Heidelberg University, Frederike joins us from Frankfurt for her PhD and Pauline is finally back with us as a master student! Welcome to all of you, we are happy to have you! 🙂
April 2020
Our new paper has just been published in Angewandte Chemie (Dietschreit, Wagner et al., 2020, Angewandte Chemie)! We describe the use of 19F NMR spectroscopy for the detailed analysis of an essential enzyme from African trypanosome in complex with a fluorinated inhibitor. We had previously observed that the inhibitor induces protein dimerization (Wagner et al., 2019, Angewandte Chemie). Now we combine 19F NMR spectroscopy of the bound and free inhibitor with QM/MM calculations in a fantastic collaboration with the group of Christian Ochsenfeld at LMU Munich, an approach that may be useful to study drug-protein complexes in general due to the abundance of 19F in drug-like molecules.
Read more here: Dietschreit, J.C.B., Wagner, A., Le, T.A., Klein, P., Schindelin, H., Opatz, T., Engels, B., Hellmich#, U.A., Ochsenfeld#, C. (2020) Predicting 19F NMR Chemical Shifts: A Combined Computational and Experimental Study of a Trypanosomal Oxidoreductase-Inhibitor Complex. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., accepted DOI: 10.1002/anie.202000539 (#corresponding authors)
March 2020
27.03.2020
We are pleased to announce that our research will be supported by a Boehringer Ingelheim Stiftung Exploration Grant. These grants are awarded to outstanding junior researchers in Chemistry, Biology or Medicine to explore novel, exciting and and risky research avenues! We will use this opportunity to study parasitic ion channels and their human counterparts. Watch this space for news updates!
23.03.2020
Strange times, but this has not stopped Jean to join the lab for an internship. A big hooray for theoretical projects! Welcome! 🙂
16.03.2020
We are currently on a SARS-CoV-2 enforced wet lab break, focussing on writing papers and theses.
By staying at home, minimizing personal contacts and washing our hands frequently, we are doing our share to support the global efforts to fight against this pandemic.
If you need to contact us, we are all availble via our university email accounts.
Stay safe, sane and healthy!
02.03.2020
Dhana joins us for her Bachelor thesis! Welcome and enjoy the TRP! 🙂
01.03.2020
Meeting Time! Dania, Mai, Victor and Ute will attend the FEBS ABC Meeting in Innsbruck, Austria, supported by travel awards from FEBS, the Hans Böckler Stiftung and the GDCh. Dania and Mai will also present talks about their work - congratulations to everyone!!!
February 2020
10.02.2020
Isabell submitted her Bachelor thesis, congratulations! 🙂
03.02.2020
Congratulations Thea for submitting your Bachelor thesis! 🙂
30.01.2020
Our joint RCSA (research corporation for science advancement) proposal with the Charkoudian lab at Haverford College, PA, USA to kick-start a US-German collaboration has been funded! 🙂 Mai will spend two months in Pennsylvania using advanced vibrational spectroscopy on her favorite proteins before Zach from the Charkoudian lab joins us over the summer for NMR studies! Exciting times ahead with new friends!
Congratulations!
Charlotte is awarded a TransMED PhD Fellowship!🙂
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News 2015