All peer-reviewed publications
2026
Schulte, J., Schwegler, E., Hellmich, U.A., Morgner, N. (2026) Quantification of protein homodimer affinity using native mass spectrometry.
J. Am. Chem. Soc., doi: 10.1021/jacs.5c18602
Zhang, B., Huang, Y., Schlabach, K., Tran, M.A., Nachawati, R., Bader, N., Komor, A., Hertweck, C., Schindelin, H., Lakemeyer*, M., Hellmich*, U.A., Stallforth*, P. (2026) Microbial DL-Peptidases Enable Predator Defense and Facilitate Structure Elucidation of Complex Natural Products.
J. Am. Chem. Soc., doi: 10.1021/jacs.5c17955 (*co-corresponding authors)
- selected as SI cover article
- feature article in C&EN
- press release from FSU Jena and Microverse
- featured in local newspaper (OTZ)
Loder, A.K., Kosmanopoulos, G.P., Aisenberg, W.H., Cox, E., Blackshaw, S., Gaudet, R., Hellmich, U.A., McCray, B.A., Sumner, C.J., Sullivan, J.M. (2026) Profiling the TRPV4 ankyrin repeat domain interactome and its disruption by neuromuscular disease-causing mutations.
J. Biol. Chem., 302(1):110991. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2025.110991
2025
Herbst, R., Ibrahim, A., Hubner, A., Knupfer, U., Regestein, L., Wiedemann, C., Hellmich, U.A., Warinner, C., Stallforth, P. (2025) Actifensin evolution in the human oral cavity over the past 100,000 years.
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 147(52):48060-48071. doi: 10.1021/jacs.5c14335
Pérez Carrillo, V.H., Di Cesare, M., Rose-Sperling, D., Javed, W., Neuweiler, H., Marcoux, J., Orelle*, C., Jault*, J.-M., Hellmich*, U.A. (2025) Bidirectional communication between nucleotide and substrate binding sites in a type IV multidrug ABC transporter.
Nature Commun. 16, 9921, doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-65037-y
- Selected as an Editors’ Highlight in "Structural biology, biochemistry and biophysics" in Nature Communications
- press release from FSU Jena
- featured in newspapers, radio and national TV (e.g. OTZ, MDR Wissen, ZDF Mittagsmagazin)
Hoffmann, L., Eckl, E.-M., Bérouti, M., Pries, M., Koller, A., Guhl, C., Hellmich, U.A., Hornung, V., Xiang, W., Jae, L., Kielkowski, P. (2025) AMPylation regulates PLD3 processing.
Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, 24(10):101051, doi: S1535-9476(25)00150-1
Schwegler, E., Hellmich. U.A. (2025) Backbone NMR assignments of the essential oxidoreductase Tryparedoxin from the human pathogenic parasite Trypanosoma cruzi.
Biomol. NMR Assign., 19(2):267-273, doi: 10.1007/s12104-025-10244-3
Neissner, K., Duchardt-Ferner, E., Wiedemann, C., Kraus, J., Hellmich, U.A., Wöhnert, J. (2025) Protonated Glutamate and Aspartate Side Chains Can Recognize Phosphodiester
Groups via Strong and Short Hydrogen Bonds in Biomacromolecular Complexes.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., e202501589, doi: 10.1002/anie.202501589
Zhang, B., Schlabach, K., Pérez Carrillo, V.H., Ibrahim, A., Komor, A., Mukherji, R., Chowdhury, S., Reimer, L., Trottmann, F., Hertweck, C., Hellmich, U.A., Stallforth, P. (2025) A chemical radar allows bacteria to detect and kill predators.
Cell, 188(9):2495-2504.e20, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.02.033
- featured in Cell Host & Microbe: doi:10.1016/j.chom.2025.04.012
- highlighted in Current Biology: doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.06.037
- winner of the 2025 medac publication award
Pérez Carrillo, V.H., Whittaker, J.J., Wiedemann, C., Harder, J.-M., Lohr, T., Jamithireddy, A.K., Dajka, M., Goretzki, B., Joseph, B., Guskov, A., Harmer, N.J., Holzgrabe, U., Hellmich, U.A. (2025) Structure and dynamics of macrophage infectivity potentiator proteins from pathogenic bacteria and protozoans bound to fluorinated pipecolic acid inhibitors.
J. Med. Chem., 68(5):5926-5941, doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5c00134
Li, K.K., Cho*, Y.I., Tran, M.A., Wiedemann, C., Zhang, S., Koweek, R.S., Khánh Hoàng, N., Hamrick, G.S., Bowen, M.A., Koknona, B., Stallforth, P., Beld, J., Hellmich*, U.A., Charkoudian*, L. (2025) Strategic acyl carrier protein engineering enables functional type II polyketide synthase reconstitution in vitro. (*co-corresponding authors)
ACS Chem. Biol., 20(1): 197–207, https://doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.4c00678
Berth, S.H., Kwon, D.H., Vo, L., Damayanti, Y. S., Kosmanopoulos, G., Fox, A., Lau, A.R., Carr, P., Donohue, J., Hoke, M., Thomas, S., Grider, T., Chafic, K., Crawford, T.O., Gaudet, R., Shy, M.E., Hellmich, U. A., Lee, S.-Y., Sumner, C.J., McCray, B.A. (2025) Combined Clinical, Structural, and Cellular Studies Discriminate Pathogenic and Benign TRPV4 Variants.
Brain, 148(2):564-579. doi: 10.1093/brain/awae243
2024
Lohr, T., Herbst, C., Bzdyl, N.M., Jenkins, C., Scheuplein, N.J., Sugiarto, W.O., Whittaker, J.J., Guskov, A., Norville, I., Hellmich, U.A., Hausch, F., Sarkar-Tyson, M., Sotriffer, C., Holzgrabe, U. (2024) Improvement of inhibitors of the Macrophage Infectivity Potentiator protein from Trypanosoma cruzi, Burkholderia pseudomallei, and Legionella pneumophila – a comparison.
ACS Infectious Diseases 10(10): 3681–3691, doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.4c00553
Schwickert, K.K., Glitscher, M., Bender, D., Murra, R., Schwickert, K., Pfalzgraf, S., Schirmeister, T., Hellmich*, U.A., Hildt*, E. (2024) Zika virus replication is impaired by a selective agonist of the TRPML2 ion channel. (*co-corresponding authors)
Antiviral. Res. 228:105940, doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2024.105940
Dell, M., Tran, M.A., Capper, M., Sundaram, S., Fiedler, J., Koehnke*, J., Hellmich*, U.A., Hertweck*, C. (2024) Trapping of a Polyketide Synthase Module After C-C Bond Formation Reveals Transient Acyl Carrier Domain Interactions. (*co-corresponding authors)
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., e202315850, doi: 10.1002/anie.202315850
Maroofian, R., Zamani, M., Kaiyrzhanov, R. Liebmann, L., Karimiani, E.G., Vona, B., Huebner, A.K., Calame, D.G., Misra, V.K., Sadeghian, S., Azizimalamiri, R., Mohammadi, M.H., Zeighami, J., Heydaran, S., Toosi. M.B., Akhondian, J., Babaei, M., Hashemi, Schnur, R.E., N., Suri, M., Setzke, J., Wagner, M., Brunet, T., Grochowski, C.M., Emrick, L., Chung, W.K., Hellmich, U.A., Schmidts, M., Lupski, J.R., Galehdari, H., Severino, M., Houlden, H., Hübner, C.A. (2024) Biallelic variants in SLC4A10 encoding the sodium-dependent chloride-bicarbonate exchanger NCBE lead to a neurodevelopmental disorder.
Genetics in Medicine, 26(3):101034, doi: 10.1016/j.gim.2023.101034
2023
Catalina-Hernández, E., López-Martín, M., Masnou-Sánchez, D., Martins, M., Lorenz-Fonfria, V.A., Jiménez-Altayó, F., Hellmich, U.A., Inada, H., Alcaraz, A., Furutani, Y., Nonell-Canals, A., Vázquez-Ibar, J.-L-., Domene, C., Gaudet, R., Perálvarez-Marín, A. (2023) Experimental and computational biophysics to identify vasodilator drugs targeted at TRPV2 based on the probenecid scaffold.
Comput. Struct. Biotechnol. J. 23:473-482, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2023.12.028
Hellmich, U.A. (2023) Dynamic ion channel defies dogma.
Nature, doi: d41586-023-02486-9
- invited News and Views Article for paper by the Scheuring lab on the first pentameric TRP channel structure
- Read their paper here: Lansky et al (2023) A pentameric TRPV3 channel with a dilated pore. Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06470-1
Wiedemann, C., Whittaker, J.J., Pérez Carrillo, V.H., Goretzki, B., Dajka, M., Tebbe, F., Harder, J.-M., T., Krajczy, P., Joseph, B., Hausch, F., Guskov, A., Hellmich, U.A. (2023) Legionella pneumophila macrophage infectivity potentiator protein appendage domains modulate protein dynamics and inhibitor binding.
Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 252:126366. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126366
Deutscher, R., Karagöz, S., Purder, P., Kolos, J., Meyners, C., Sugiarto, W., Krajczy, P., Tebbe, F., Geiger, T., Ünal. C., Hellmich, U.A., Steinert, M., Hausch, F. (2023) [4.3.1] Bicyclic FKBP ligands inhibit Legionella pneumophila infection by LpMip-dependent and LpMip independent mechanisms.
ChemBioChem 24(21):e202300442. doi: 10.1002/cbic.202300442
Goretzki, B., Wiedemann, C., McCray, B.A., Schäfer, S.L., Jansen, J., Tebbe, F., Mitrovic, S.A., Nöth, J., Claveras Cabezudo, A., Donohue, J., Jeffries, J.M., Steinchen, W., Stengel, F., Sumner, C.J., Hummer, G., Hellmich, U.A. (2023) Crosstalk between regulatory elements in the disordered TRPV4 N-terminus modulates lipid-dependent channel activity.
Nature Commun. 14: 4165, doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-39808-4
- Press release from FSU Jena
- Selected as a featured article in the Editors’ Highlights on "Structural biology, biochemistry and biophysics" in Nature Communications
- Featured as a Research Highlight in Nature Chemical Biology, doi: 10.1038/s41589-023-01440-0
Maus, H., Hammerschmidt, S.J., Hinze, G., Barthels, F., Pérez Carrillo, V.H., Hellmich, U.A., Basché, T., Schirmeister, T. (2023) The effects of allosteric and competitive inhibitors on ZIKV protease conformational dynamics explored through smFRET, nanoDSF, DSF, and 19F-NMR.
Eur. J. Med. Chem., 258: 115573, doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2023.115573
Stallforth*, P., Mittag, M., Brakhage, A.A., Hertweck, C., Hellmich*, U.A. (2023) Functional Modulation of Chemical Mediators in Microbial Communities. (*corresponding authors)
Trends Biochem. Sci., 48(1): 71-81 doi: 10.1016/j.tibs.2022.07.006
2022
Zhang, L., Simonsen, C., Zimova, L., Wang, K., Moparthi, L., Gaudet, R., Ekoff, M., Nilsson, G., Hellmich, U.A., Vlachova, V., Gourdon, P.E., Zygmunt, P.M. (2022) Cannabinoid non-cannabidiol site modulation of TRPV2 structure and function.
Nature Commun. 13: 7483, doi:s41467-022-35163-y
El Hamdaoui, Y., Zheng, F., Ye L., Fritz, N., Tran, M.A., Schwickert, K., Schirmeister, T., Braeuning, A., Lichtenstein, D., Hellmich. U.A., Weikert, D., Heinrich, M., Treccani, G., Schäfer, M.K.E., Nowak, G., Nürnberg, B., Alzheimer, C., Müller, C.P., Friedland, K. (2022) Analysis of hyperforin (St John’s wort) action at TRPC6 channels in mood disorders leads to new anti-depressants.
Molecular Psychiatry, 27: 5070–5085, doi: 10.1038/s41380-022-01804-3.
Wiedemann, C., Goretzki, B., Merz, Z.N., Tebbe, F., Schmitt, P., Hellmich, U.A. (2022) Extent of intrinsic disorder and NMR chemical shift assignments of the distal N-termini from human TRPV1, TRPV2 and TRPV3 ion channels.
Biomol. NMR Assign., 16: 289–296, doi: 10.1007/s12104-022-10093-4
Goretzki, B., Tebbe, F., Mitrovic, S.-A., Hellmich, U.A. (2022) Backbone NMR assignments of the extensive human and chicken TRPV4 N-terminal intrinsically disordered regions as important players in ion channel regulation.
Biomol. NMR Assign., 16: 205–212, doi: 10.1007/s12104-022-10080-9
Bothe, S., Hänzelmann, P., Boehler, S., Kehrein, J., Zehe., M., Wiedemann, C., Hellmich, U.A., Brenk, R., Schindelin, H., Sotriffer, C. (2022) Fragment screening using biolayer interferometry reveals ligands targeting the SHP-motif binding site of the AAA+ ATPase p97.
Commun. Chem. 5, 169, doi: 10.1038/s42004-022-00782-5
Previti, S., Ettari, R., Di Chio, C., Ravichandran, R., Bogacz, M., Hellmich, U.A., Schirmeister, T., Cosconati, S., Zappalà. M. (2022) Development of Reduced Peptide Bond Pseudopeptide Michael Acceptors for the Treatment of Human African Trypanosomiasis.
Molecules. 27(12):3765. doi: 10.3390/molecules27123765.
Jung, S., Fuchs, N., Grathwohl, C., Hellmich, U.A., Wagner, A., Diehl, E., Willmes, T., Sotriffer, C., Schirmeister, T. (2022) New peptidomimetic rhodesain inhibitors with improved selectivity towards human cathepsins.
Eur. J. Med. Chem., 238: 114460, doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2022.114460
Di Chio, C., Previti, S., Amendola, G., Ravichandran, R., Wagner, A., Cosconati, S., Hellmich, U.A., Schirmeister, T., Zappalà, M., Ettari, R. (2022) Development of novel dipeptide nitriles as inhibitors of rhodesain of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense.
Eur. J. Med. Chem., 236: 114328, doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2022.114328
Aisenberg, W.H., McCray, B.A., Sullivan, J.M., Diehl, E., Devine, L.R., Bagnell, A.M., Alevy, J., Carr, P., Goretzki, B., Cole, R.N., Hellmich, U.A., Sumner, C. (2022) Multi-ubiquitination of TRPV4 reduces channel activity independent of surface localization.
J. Biol. Chem., 298(4): 101826 doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2022.101826
Bando, Y., Hou, Y., Seyfarth, L., Probst, J., Götze, S., Bogacz, M., Hellmich, U.A., Stallforth, P., Mittag, M., Arndt, H.-D.(2022)Total Synthesis & Structural Correction of the Cyclic Lipodepsipeptide Orfamide A.
Chem. Eur. J., 28(20): e202104417, doi: 10.1002/chem.202104417
Taga, A., Peyton, M., Goretzki, B., Gallagher, T.G., Ritter, A., Harper, A., Crawford, T.O., Hellmich, U.A., Sumner, C.J., McCray, B.A. (2022) TRPV4 mutations associated with mixed neuropathy and skeletal dysplasia phenotypes result in severe gain of ion channel function.
Ann. Clin. Transl. Neurol., 9(3): 375-391, doi:10.1002/acn3.51523
Pérez Carrillo, V.H., Rose-Sperling, D., Tran, M.A., Wiedemann, C., Hellmich, U.A. (2022) Backbone NMR assignments of the nucleotide binding domain of the Bacillus subtilis ABC multidrug transporter BmrA in the post-hydrolysis state.
Biomol. NMR Assign., 16(1):81-86, doi:10.1007/s12104-021-10063-2
Hellmich*, U.A., Delemotte, L. (2022) TRP channels: branching out into the fungal kingdom.
Structure, 30(4): 2-4, doi.org/10.1016/j.str.2021.12.006 (*corr. author)
- invited preview for paper by the Moiseenkova-Bell lab on the first fungal TRP channel structure
- Read their paper here: Ahmed et al (2021) Structure of the ancient TRPY1 channel from Saccharomyces cerevisiae reveals mechanisms of modulation by lipids and calcium. Structure, S0969-2126(21)00298-7.
2021
Jung, S., Fuchs, N., Johé, P., Wagner, A., Diehl, E., Yuliani, T., Zimmer, C., Barthels, F., Klein, P., Opatz, T., Tenzer, S., Distler, U., Räder, H.-J., Weil, T., Kersten, C., Hellmich, U.A., Klein, J., Schirmeister, T. (2021) Fluorovinylsulfones and -sulfonates as potent covalent reversible inhibitors of the trypanosomal cysteine protease rhodesain: SAR, inhibition mechanism, metabolism and in vivo studies.
J. Med. Chem., 64(16):12322-12358, doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01002
- Winner of the Phoenix Science Award in the category Pharmaceutical Chemistry!
Götz, C., Hinze, G., Gellert, A., Maus, H., von Hammerstein, F., Hammerschmidt, S., Lauth, L.M., Hellmich, U.A., Schirmeister, T., Basché, T. (2021) Conformational Dynamics of the Dengue Virus Protease revealed by Fluorescence Correlation and Single-Molecule FRET studies.
J. Phys. Chem. B, 125(25): 6837–6846, doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c01797
Johé, P., Jaenicke, E., Neuweiler, H., Schirmeister, T., Kersten, C., Hellmich, U.A (2021) Structure, interdomain dynamics and pH-dependent autoactivation of pro-rhodesain, the main lysosomal cysteine protease from African trypanosomes.
J. Biol. Chem., 296:100565, doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100565
Goretzki, B., Guhl, C., Tebbe, F., Harder, J.-M., Hellmich, U.A. (2021) Unstructural Biology of TRP Ion Channels: The Role of Intrinsically Disordered Regions in Channel Function and Regulation.
J. Mol. Biol., 166931, doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2021.166931
Johé, P., Jung, S., Endres, E., Kersten, C., Zimmer, C., Ye, W., Sönnichsen, C., Hellmich, U.A., Sotriffer, C., Schirmeister, T., Neuweiler, H. (2021) Warhead reactivity limits the speed of inhibition of the cysteine protease rhodesain.
ACS Chem. Biol., 16(4):661–670, doi: 10.1021/acschembio.0c00911
McCray, B.A., Diehl, E., Sullivan, J.M., Aisenberg, W.H., Zaccor, N.W., Lau, A.R., Rich, D., Goretzki, B., Hellmich, U.A., Lloyd, T.E., Sumner, C.J. (2021) Neuropathy-causing TRPV4 mutations disrupt TRPV4-RhoA interactions and impair neurite extension.
Nature Commun., 12:1444, doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21699-y
Hamdoun*, A., Hellmich*, U.A., Kuchler*, K., Szakacs*, G. (2021) The Incredible Diversity of Structures and Functions of ABC Transporters.
FEBS Lett., 595(6):671-674. doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.14061 (invited editorial) (*corresponding authors)
Zengerling, L., Kemper. B., Hellmich, U.A., Besenius, P. (2021) Synthesis and Structural Stability of α-Helical Au(I)-Metallopeptides.
Synlett, 32:344-349, doi: 10.1055/a-1290-8412
2020
Wesenberg, L., Diehl, E., Zähringer, T.B., Dörr, C., Schollmeyer, D., Shimizu, A., Yoshida, J., Hellmich, U.A., Waldvogel, S.R. (2020) Metal-free Twofold Electrochemical C-H Amination of Activated Arenes: Application to Medicinally Relevant Precursor Syntheses.
Chem. Eur. J., 26(72):17574-17580. doi: 10.1002/chem.202003852
Jungglas, B., Orru, R., Axt, A., Siebenaller, C., Steinchen, W., Heidrich, J., Hellmich, U.A., Hellmann, N., Wolf, E., Weber, S.L., Schneider, D. (2020) IM30 IDPs form a membrane protective carpet upon super-complex disassembly.
Commun. Biol., 3(1):595. doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01314-4
Ford*, R. C., Hellmich*, U. A. (2020) What monomeric nucleotide binding domains can teach us about dimeric ABC proteins.
FEBS Lett., 594(23):3857–3875. doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.13921 (*corresponding authors)
Maiorana, S., Ettari, R., Previti, S., Amendola, G., Wagner, A., Cosconati, S., Hellmich, U.A., Schirmeister, T., Zappalà, M. (2020) Peptidyl vinyl ketone irreversible inhibitors of rhodesain: modifications of the P2 fragment.
ChemMedChem, 15(16):1552-1561. doi: 10.1002/cmdc.202000360
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., 59(31):12669-12673 doi: 10.1002/anie.202000539 (*corresponding authors)
Klein, P., Barthels, F., Johé, P., Wagner, A., Tenzer, S., Distler, U., Le, T.A., Schmid, P., Engel, V., Engels, B., Hellmich, U.A., Opatz, T., Schirmeister, T. (2020) Naphthoquinones as inhibitors of cysteine proteases.
Molecules, 25(9):2064. doi: 10.3390/molecules25092064
Klein, P., Johé, P., Wagner, A., Jung, S., Kühlborn, J., Tenzer, S., Distler, U., Waigel, W., Engels, B., Hellmich, U.A., Opatz, T., Schirmeister, T. (2020) New Cysteine Protease Inhibitors: Electrophilic (Het)arenes and unexpected Prodrug Identification.
Molecules, 25(6):1451. doi: 10.3390/molecules25061451
Goretzki, B., Heiby, J., Hacker, C. Neuweiler, H., Hellmich, U.A. (2020) NMR assignments of a dynamically perturbed and dimerization inhibited N-terminal domain variant of a spider silk protein from E. australis.
Biomol NMR Assign. 14:67–71. doi: 10.1007/s12104-019-09922-w.
Steiert, E., Ewald, J., Wagner, A., Hellmich, U.A., Frey, H., Wich, P.R. (2020) pH-Responsive Protein Nanoparticles via Conjugation of Degradable PEG to the Surface of Cytochrome c.
Polymer Chem. 11:551-559. doi: 10.1039/C9PY01162E
FEBS Letters Special Edition "Diversity of Structure and Function of ABC Transporters", Guest Editors: Amro Hamdoun, Ute A. Hellmich, Karl Kuchler, Gergely Szakacs
2019
Millies, B., von Hammerstein, F., Gellert, A., Hammerschmidt, S., Barthels, F., Göppel, U., Immerheiser, M., Elgner, F., Jung, N., Basic, M., Kersten, C., Kiefer, W., Bodem, J., Hildt, E., Windbergs, M., Hellmich*, U.A., Schirmeister*, T. (2019) Proline-based allosteric inhibitors of Zika and Dengue virus NS2B/NS3 proteases.
J. Med. Chem. 62(24):11359-11382. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b01697 (*corresponding authors)
Ettari, R., Previti, S., Maiorana, S., Amendola, G., Wagner, A., Cosconati, S., Schirmeister, T., Hellmich, U.A., Zappalà, M. (2019) Optimization strategy of novel peptide-based Michael acceptors for the treatment of Human African Trypanosomiasis.
J. Med. Chem. 62(23):10617-10629. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b00908
Heiby*, J., Goretzki*, B., Johnson, C., Hellmich#, U.A., Neuweiler#, H. (2019) Methionine in a protein hydrophobic core drives tight interactions required for assembly of spider silk.
Nature Commun. 10(1):4378. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12365-5. (*shared first authors, #corresponding authors)
- featured in Laborjournal
- behind the paper Nature Research Chemistry Community
- featured in German print media, e.g. here, here, here or here
- JGU Mainz press release
von Hammerstein*, F., Lauth*, L. M., Hammerschmidt, S., Wagner, A., Schirmeister, T., Hellmich, U.A. (2019) Cis autocatalytic cleavage of glycine‐linked Zika virus NS2B‐NS3 protease constructs.
FEBS Lett. 593(16):2204-2213. doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.13507. (*shared first authors)
Viet*, K.K., Wagner*, A., Schwickert*, K., Hellwig, N., Brennich, M., Bader, N., Schirmeister, T., Morgner, N., Schindelin, H., Hellmich, U.A. (2019) Structure of the human TRPML2 ion channel extracytosolic/lumenal domain.
Structure, 27(8):1246-1257. doi: 10.1016/j.str.2019.04.016. (*shared first authors)
- JGU Mainz press release
Rose-Sperling, D., Tran, M. A., Lauth, L.M., Goretzki, B., Hellmich, U.A. (2019) 19F NMR as a versatile tool to study membrane protein structure and dynamics.
Biol. Chem., 400(10):1277-1288. doi: 10.1515/hsz-2018-0473
Wagner, A., Le, T.A., Brennich, M., Klein, P., Bader, N., Diehl, E., Paszek, D., Weickhmann, A.K., Dirdjaja, N., Krauth-Siegel, R.L., Engels, B., Opatz, T., Schindelin, H., Hellmich, U.A. (2019) Inhibitor-Induced Dimerization of an Essential Oxidoreductase from African Trypanosomes.
Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed. 58(11):3640-3644. doi: 10.1002/anie.201810470
- featured as an ESRF Spotlight on Science
- JGU Mainz press release
Wagner, A., Le, T. A., Brennich, M., Klein, P., Bader, N., Diehl, E., Paszek, D., Weickhmann, A. K., Dirdjaja, N., Krauth-Siegel, R. L., Engels, B., Opatz, T., Schindelin, H., Hellmich, U.A. (2019) Inhibitor-induzierte Dimerisierung einer essentiellen Oxidoreduktase aus Afrikanischen Trypanosomen. doi: 10.1002/ange.201810470
Angewandte Chemie, 131(11):3679-3683
2018
Goretzki*, B., Glogowski*, N.A., Diehl, E., Duchardt-Ferner, E., Hacker, C., Gaudet, R., Hellmich, U. A. (2018) Structural basis of TRPV4 N-terminus interaction with Syndapin/PACSIN1-3 and PIP2.
Structure, 26(12):1583-1593. doi: 10.1016/j.str.2018.08.002 (*shared first authors)
Howard*, R.J., Carnevale*, V., Delemotte*, L., Hellmich*, U. A., Rothberg*, B. (2018) Permeating disciplines: overcoming barriers between molecular simulations and classical structure-function approaches in biological ion transport.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1860(4):927-942. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2017.12.013. Front Cover. (*corresponding authors)
Szöllösi, D., Rose-Sperling, D, Hellmich, U. A., Stockner, T. (2018) Comparison of mechanistic transport cycle models of ABC exporters.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1860(4):818-832. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2017.10.028.
Hellmich*, U.A., McILwain*, B., Doshi*, R. (2018) Where do we go from here? Membrane protein research beyond the structure-function horizon. (invited editorial)
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1860(4):801-803. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2017.12.016. (*corresponding authors)
BBA Biomembranes Special Edition "Beyond the Structure-Function Horizon of Membrane Proteins", Guest Editors: Ute A. Hellmich, Rupak Doshi, Benjamin McIlwain
2017
Preveti, S., Ettari, R., Cosconati, S., Amendola, G., Chouchene, K., Wagner, A., Hellmich, U.A., Ulrich, K., Krauth-Siegel, R.L., Wich, P.R., Schmid, I., Schirmeister, T., Gut, J., Rosenthal, P.J., Grasso, S., Zappalà, M. (2017) Development of novel peptide-based Michael acceptors targeting rhodesain and falcipain-2 for the treatment of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).
J. Med. Chem. 60(16):6911-6923.
Wagner, A., Diehl, E., Krauth-Siegel, R.L., Hellmich, U. A. (2017) Backbone NMR assignments of tryparedoxin, the central protein in the hydroperoxide detoxification cascade of African trypanosomes, in the oxidized and reduced form.
Biomol. NMR Assign. 11(2):193-196.
Neumann, J., Rose-Sperling, D. and Hellmich, U. A. (2017) Diverse relations between lipids and ABC transporters: an overview.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1859(4):605-618.
2016
Latorre, A., Schirmeister, T., Kesselring, J., Jung, S., Johé, P., Hellmich, U. A., Heilos, A., Engels, B., Krauth-Siegel, R. L., Dirdjaja, N., Bou-Iserte, L., Rodríguez, S., González, F. V. (2016) Dipeptidyl Nitroalkenes as Potent Reversible Inhibitors of Cysteine Proteases Rhodesain and Cruzain.
ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 7(12):1073-1076.
Schirmeister, T., Kesselring, J., Jung, S., Schneider, T., Weickert, A., Becker, J., Lee, W., Bamberger, D., Wich, P. R., Distler, U., Tenzer, S., Johé, P., Hellmich, U. A., Engels, B. (2016) Quantum chemical-based Protocol for the rational Design of covalent Inhibitors.
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 138(27):8332-5.
2015
Hellmich*, U.A., Mönkemeyer, L., Velamakanni, S., van Veen, H.W., Glaubitz*, C. (2015) Effects of nucleotide binding to LmrA: A combined MAS-NMR and solution NMR study.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1848(12):3158-65. (*corresponding authors)
Hacker, C., Christ, N. A., Duchardt-Ferner, E., Korn, S., Göbl, C., Berninger, L., Düsterhus, S., Hellmich, U. A., Madl, T., Kötter, P., Entian, K., Wöhnert, J. (2015) The solution structure of the lantibiotic immunity protein NisI and its interactions with nisin.
J. Biol. Chem.290(48):28869-86.
2014 and earlier
Hellmich*, U.A. and Gaudet*, R. (2014) High-resolution views of TRPV1 and their implications for the TRP channel superfamily. In Mammalian Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) cation channels, B. Nilius, and V. Flockerzi, eds. (Heidelberg, Germany: Springer DE).
Handb. Exp. Pharmacol. 223:991-1004. (*corresponding authors)
Hellmich*, U.A. and Gaudet*, R. (2014) Structural Biology of TRP Channels. In Mammalian Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) cation channels, B. Nilius, and V. Flockerzi, eds. (Heidelberg, Germany: Springer DE).
Handb. Exp. Pharmacol. 223:963-90. (*corresponding authors)
Hellmich, U.A., Weis, B.L., Luitikov, A., Wurm, J.P., Christ, N.A., Hantke, K., Kötter, P., Entian, K.D., Schleiff, E. and Wöhnert, J. (2013) Essential ribosome assembly factor Fap7 regulates a hierarchy of RNA-protein interactions during small ribosomal subunit biogenesis.
Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 110(38):15253-8.
Garcia-Elias, A., Mrkonjic, S., Pardo-Pastor, C., Inada, H., Hellmich, U.A., Rubio-Moscardo, F., Plata, C., Gaudet, R., Vicente, R. and Valverde, M.A. (2013) PIP2-dependent rearrangement of TRPV4 cytosolic tails enables channel activation by physiological stimuli.
Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 110(23):9553-8.
Mörs, K., Hellmich, U.A., Basting, D., Marchand, P., Wurm, J.P., Haase, W. and Glaubitz, C. (2013) A lipid-dependent link between activity and oligomerization state of the M. tuberculosis SMR protein Tbsmr.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1828(2):561-7.
Hellmich, U.A. and Wöhnert, J. (2013) Backbone resonance assignments for a homolog of the essential ribosome biogenesis factor Fap7 from P. horikoshii in its nucleotide-free and -bound forms.
Biomol. NMR Assign. 7(2):261-5.
Christ, N.A., Bochmann, S., Gottstein, D., Duchardt-Ferner, E., Hellmich, U.A., Düsterhus, S., Kötter, P., Güntert, P., Entian, K.D. and Wöhnert, J. (2012) The first structure of a LanI protein, SpaI: The protein conferring autoimmunity against the lantibiotic subtilin in Bacillus subtilis reveals a novel fold.
J. Biol. Chem. 287(42):35286-98.
Hellmich*, U.A., Lyubenova*, S., Kaltenborn, E., Doshi, R., van Veen, H. W., Prisner, T.F. and Glaubitz, C. (2012) Probing the ATP hydrolysis cycle of the ABC multidrug transporter LmrA by pulsed EPR Spectroscopy.
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 134(13):5857-62.(*contributed equally)
Hellmich, U.A., Duchardt-Ferner, E., Glaubitz, C. and Wöhnert, J. (2012) Backbone NMR resonance assignments of the nucleotide binding domain of the ABC multidrug transporter LmrA from Lactococcus lactis in its ADP-bound state.
Biomol. NMR Assign. 6(1):69-73.
Ullrich*, S.J., Hellmich*, U.A., Ullrich, S. and Glaubitz, C. (2011) Interfacial enzyme kinetics of a membrane bound kinase analyzed by real-time MAS-NMR.
Nature Chem. Biol. 7(5):263-70. (*contributed equally)
Zutz, A., Hoffman, J., Hellmich, U.A., Glaubitz, C., Ludwig, B., Brutschy, B. and Tampé, R. (2011) Asymmetric ATP hydrolysis cycle of the heterodimeric multidrug ABC complex TmrAB from Thermus thermophiles.
J. Biol. Chem. 286(9):7104-15
Hellmich*, U.A. and Glaubitz, C. (2009) NMR and EPR on membrane transporters.
Biol. Chem. 390(8), 815-34. Invited Review (*corresponding author)
Pfleger, N., Wörner, A. C., Yang, J., Shastri, S., Hellmich, U.A., Aslimovska, L., Maier, M. S. M. and Glaubitz, C. (2009) Solid-state NMR and functional studies on Proteorhodopsin.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Bioenerg. 1787(6), 697-705
Hellmich*, U.A., Pfleger*, N. and Glaubitz, C. (2009) 19F NMR on Proteorhodopsin: enhanced protocol for labeling for general application on membrane proteins.
Photochem. Photobiol. 85(2), 535-539 (*contributed equally)
Hellmich, U.A., Haase, W., Velamakanni, S., van Veen, H. W. and Glaubitz, C. (2008) Caught in the Act: ATP hydrolysis of an ABC multidrug transporter by real-time MAS NMR.
FEBS Lett. 23(23-24), 3557-3562
Siarheyeva, A., Lopez, J. J., Lehner, I., Hellmich, U.A., van Veen, H. W. and Glaubitz, C. (2007) Probing the Molecular Dynamics of the ABC Multidrug Transporter LmrA by Deuterium Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.
Biochemistry 46(11); 3075-30839
Submitted articles/pre-prints
Grigson, S.R., Geliashvili, N., Schubert, T., Boura, G., Mallawaarachchi, V., Bogacz, M., Green, R., Hellmich, U.A., Edwards, R.A., Dutilh, B. E (2026) Computational prediction resolves thousands of homooligomeric phage protein structures.
(preprint on BioRxiv)
Rusevski, A., Liu, N., Westhoff, J., Hübner, S., Ramoji, A., Halbauer, J., Sommerfeld, O., Bauer, M., Traeger, A., Hellmich, U.A., Fischer, D., Press, A.T. (2026) Submitted
Dutt, S., Beardsley, S., Yuan, X., Yu. R., Belot, A., Carrington, B., Bishop, K., Ghosh, S., Li, J., Zhang, X., Harder, J.-M., Ulhas, R.S., Kumar, S.D., Pandey, V., Sood, R., Smith, H., Krause, M., Wohlschlegel, J.A., Hellmich, U. A:, Chen, C., Liu, P., Hamza, I. (2026) Submitted
Schwegler, E., Harder, J.-M., Preuss, M., Guhl, C., Zhang, S., Wagner, A., Bader, N., Stallforth, P., Lakemeyer, M., Schindelin, H., Opatz, T., Hellmich, U.A. (2026) Inhibitor fluorination pattern modulates protein chemically induced dimerization. Submitted
(preprint on BioRxiv, doi: 10.1101/2025.07.23.6663629)
Lambert, M., Skeyni, A., Tasic, M., Escots, L., Guhl, C., Lafabrie, E., Bohm, J., Terrand, J., Alpy, F., Tomasetto, C.-L., Collot, M., Hovasse, A., Jaramillo Ortiz, S., Schaeffer, C., Ouadfel, L., Bihel, F., Schmitt, M., Jan, M., Laporte, J., Matz, R.L., Pradignac, A., Varret, M., Hellmich, U.A., Herz, J., Boucher, P. (2026) Submitted
Publications with undergraduate researchers
Undergraduate authors (Diploma/MSc/BSc/Intern) in italics
In our opinion, exposure to real scientific problems and participation in actual research cannot start early enough in the undergraduate education. We take great pride in planning and carrying out diverse projects with undergraduates during their BSc/MSc theses or internships.
Below you will find the results already published, but make sure you check in from time to time to see the newest updates!
Li, K.K., Cho, Y.I., Tran, M.A., Wiedemann, C., Zhang, S., Koweek, R.S., Khánh Hoàng, N., Hamrick, G.S., Bowen, M.A., Koknona, B., Stallforth, P., Beld, J., Hellmich*, U.A., Charkoudian*, L. (2024) Strategic acyl carrier protein engineering enables functional type II polyketide synthase reconstitution in vitro. (*co-corresponding authors)
ACS Chem. Biol., accepted, https://doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.4c00678
Schwickert, K.K., Glitscher, M., Bender, D., Murra, R., Schwickert, K., Pfalzgraf, S., Schirmeister, T., Hellmich*, U.A., Hildt*, E. (2024) Zika virus replication is impaired by a selective agonist of the TRPML2 ion channel. (*co-corresponding authors)
Antiviral. Res., accepted, doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2024.105940
Li, K.K., Cho, Y.I., Tran, M.A., Wiedemann, C., Koweek, R.S., Khánh Hoàng, N., Hamrick, G.S., Bowen, M.A., Koknona, B., Beld, J., Hellmich*, U.A., Charkoudian*, L. (2023) Strategic engineering unlocks in vitro type II polyketide biosynthesis. (*co-corresponding authors)
preprint available @ BioRxiv, doi: 10.1101/2023.08.02.551649v1
Goretzki, B., Wiedemann, C., McCray, B.A., Schäfer, S.L., Jansen, J., Tebbe, F., Mitrovic, S.A., Nöth, J., Claveras Cabezudo, A., Donohue, J., Jeffries, J.M., Steinchen, W., Stengel, F., Sumner, C.J., Hummer, G., Hellmich, U.A. (2023) Crosstalk between regulatory elements in the disordered TRPV4 N-terminus modulates lipid-dependent channel activity.
Nature Commun. 14: 4165, doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-39808-4
- Press release from FSU Jena
- Selected as a featured article in the Editors’ Highlights on "Structural biology, biochemistry and biophysics" in Nature Communications
Wiedemann, C., Goretzki, B., Merz, Z.N., Tebbe, F., Schmitt, P., Hellmich, U.A. (2022) Extent of intrinsic disorder and NMR chemical shift assignments of the distal N-termini from human TRPV1, TRPV2 and TRPV3 ion channels.
Biomol. NMR Assign., 16: 289–296, doi: 10.1007/s12104-022-10093-4
Goretzki, B., Tebbe, F., Mitrovic, S.-A., Hellmich, U.A. (2022) Backbone NMR assignments of the extensive human and chicken TRPV4 N-terminal intrinsically disordered regions as important players in ion channel regulation.
Biomol. NMR Assign., 16: 205–212, doi: 10.1007/s12104-022-10080-9
Götz, C., Hinze, G., Gellert, A., Maus, H., von Hammerstein, F., Hammerschmidt, S., Lauth, L.M., Hellmich, U.A., Schirmeister, T., Basché, T. (2021) Conformational Dynamics of the Dengue Virus Protease revealed by Fluorescence Correlation and Single-Molecule FRET studies.
J. Phys. Chem. B, 125(25): 6837–6846, doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c01797
Goretzki, B., Guhl, C., Tebbe, F., Harder, J.-M., Hellmich, U.A. (2021) Unstructural Biology of TRP Ion Channels: The Role of Intrinsically Disordered Regions in Channel Function and Regulation.
J. Mol. Biol., 166931, doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2021.166931
Wesenberg, L., Diehl, E., Zähringer, T.B., Dörr, C., Schollmeyer, D., Shimizu, A., Yoshida, J., Hellmich, U.A., Waldvogel, S.R. (2020) Metal-free Twofold Electrochemical C-H Amination of Activated Arenes: Application to Medicinally Relevant Precursor Syntheses.
Chem. Eur. J., 26(72):17574-17580. doi: 10.1002/chem.202003852
Millies, B., von Hammerstein, F., Gellert, A., Hammerschmidt, S., Barthels, F., Göppel, U., Immerheiser, M., Elgner, F., Jung, N., Basic, M., Kersten, C., Kiefer, W., Bodem, J., Hildt, E., Windbergs, M., Hellmich*, U.A., Schirmeister*, T. (2019) Proline-based allosteric inhibitors of Zika and Dengue virus NS2B/NS3 proteases.
J. Med. Chem. 62(24):11359-11382. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b01697 (*corresponding authors)
von Hammerstein*, F., Lauth*, L. M., Hammerschmidt, S., Wagner, A., Schirmeister, T., Hellmich, U.A. (2019) Cis autocatalytic cleavage of glycine‐linked Zika virus NS2B‐NS3 protease constructs.
FEBS Lett. 593(16):2204-2213. doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.13507. (*shared first authors)
Viet*, K.K., Wagner*, A., Schwickert*, K., Hellwig, N., Brennich, M., Bader, N., Schirmeister, T., Morgner, N., Schindelin, H., Hellmich, U.A. (2019) Structure of the human TRPML2 ion channel extracytosolic/lumenal domain.
Structure, 27(8):1246-1257. doi: 10.1016/j.str.2019.04.016. (*shared first authors)
- JGU Mainz press release
Rose-Sperling, D., Tran, M. A., Lauth, L.M., Goretzki, B., Hellmich, U.A. (2019) 19F NMR as a versatile tool to study membrane protein structure and dynamics.
Biol. Chem., 400(10):1277-1288. doi: 10.1515/hsz-2018-0473
Wagner, A., Le, T.A., Brennich, M., Klein, P., Bader, N., Diehl, E., Paszek, D., Weickhmann, A.K., Dirdjaja, N., Krauth-Siegel, R.L., Engels, B., Opatz, T., Schindelin, H., Hellmich, U.A. (2019) Inhibitor-Induced Dimerization of an Essential Oxidoreductase from African Trypanosomes.
Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed. 58(11):3640-3644. doi: 10.1002/anie.201810470
- featured as an ESRF Spotlight on Science
- JGU Mainz press release
Wagner, A., Le, T. A., Brennich, M., Klein, P., Bader, N., Diehl, E., Paszek, D., Weickhmann, A. K., Dirdjaja, N., Krauth-Siegel, R. L., Engels, B., Opatz, T., Schindelin, H., Hellmich, U.A. (2019) Inhibitor-induzierte Dimerisierung einer essentiellen Oxidoreduktase aus Afrikanischen Trypanosomen. doi: 10.1002/ange.201810470
Angewandte Chemie, 131(11):3679-3683
Goretzki*, B., Glogowski*, N.A., Diehl, E., Duchardt-Ferner, E., Hacker, C., Gaudet, R., Hellmich, U. A. (2018) Structural basis of TRPV4 N-terminus interaction with Syndapin/PACSIN1-3 and PIP2.
Structure, 26(12):1583-1593. doi: 10.1016/j.str.2018.08.002 (*shared first authors)
Wagner, A., Diehl, E., Krauth-Siegel, R.L., Hellmich, U. A. (2017) Backbone NMR assignments of tryparedoxin, the central protein in the hydroperoxide detoxification cascade of African trypanosomes, in the oxidized and reduced form.
Biomol. NMR Assign. 11(2):193-196.
Hellmich*, U.A., Mönkemeyer, L., Velamakanni, S., van Veen, H.W., Glaubitz*, C. (2015) Effects of nucleotide binding to LmrA: A combined MAS-NMR and solution NMR study.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1848(12):3158-65. (*corresponding authors)
Hellmich, U.A., Weis, B.L., Luitikov, A., Wurm, J.P., Christ, N.A., Hantke, K., Kötter, P., Entian, K.D., Schleiff, E. and Wöhnert, J. (2013) Essential ribosome assembly factor Fap7 regulates a hierarchy of RNA-protein interactions during small ribosomal subunit biogenesis.
Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 110(38):15253-8.
Mörs, K., Hellmich, U.A., Basting, D., Marchand, P., Wurm, J.P., Haase, W. and Glaubitz, C. (2013) A lipid-dependent link between activity and oligomerization state of the M. tuberculosis SMR protein Tbsmr.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1828(2):561-7.
Hellmich*, U.A., Lyubenova*, S., Kaltenborn, E., Doshi, R., van Veen, H. W., Prisner, T.F. and Glaubitz, C. (2012) Probing the ATP hydrolysis cycle of the ABC multidrug transporter LmrA by pulsed EPR Spectroscopy.
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 134(13):5857-62.(*contributed equally)
Pfleger, N., Wörner, A. C., Yang, J., Shastri, S., Hellmich, U.A., Aslimovska, L., Maier, M. S. M. and Glaubitz, C. (2009) Solid-state NMR and functional studies on Proteorhodopsin.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Bioenerg. 1787(6), 697-70
Publications according to Research Area
TRP Channels/Neurodegenerative Diseases
Hoffmann, L., Eckl, E.-M., Bérouti, M., Pries, M., Koller, A., Guhl, C., Hellmich, U.A., Hornung, V., Xiang, W., Jae, L., Kielkowski, P. (2025) AMPylation regulates PLD3 processing.
Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, accepted (BioRxiv, doi: 10.1101/2025.01.09.632087v1)
Berth, S.H., Kwon, D.H., Vo, L., Damayanti, Y. S., Kosmanopoulos, G., Fox, A., Lau, A.R., Carr, P., Donohue, J., Hoke, M., Thomas, S., Grider, T., Chafic, K., Crawford, T.O., Gaudet, R., Shy, M.E., Hellmich, U. A., Lee, S.-Y., Sumner, C.J., McCray, B.A. (2025) Combined Clinical, Structural, and Cellular Studies Discriminate Pathogenic and Benign TRPV4 Variants.
Brain, 148(2):564-579. doi: 10.1093/brain/awae243
Schwickert, K.K., Glitscher, M., Bender, D., Murra, R., Schwickert, K., Pfalzgraf, S., Schirmeister, T., Hellmich*, U.A., Hildt*, E. (2024) Zika virus replication is impaired by a selective agonist of the TRPML2 ion channel. (*co-corresponding authors)
Antiviral. Res. 228:105940, doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2024.105940
Maroofian, R., Zamani, M., Kaiyrzhanov, R. Liebmann, L., Karimiani, E.G., Vona, B., Huebner, A.K., Calame, D.G., Misra, V.K., Sadeghian, S., Azizimalamiri, R., Mohammadi, M.H., Zeighami, J., Heydaran, S., Toosi. M.B., Akhondian, J., Babaei, M., Hashemi, Schnur, R.E., N., Suri, M., Setzke, J., Wagner, M., Brunet, T., Grochowski, C.M., Emrick, L., Chung, W.K., Hellmich, U.A., Schmidts, M., Lupski, J.R., Galehdari, H., Severino, M., Houlden, H., Hübner, C.A. (2024) Biallelic variants in SLC4A10 encoding the sodium-dependent chloride-bicarbonate exchanger NCBE lead to a neurodevelopmental disorder.
Genetics in Medicine, 26(3):101034, doi: 10.1016/j.gim.2023.101034
Catalina-Hernández, E., López-Martín, M., Masnou-Sánchez, D., Martins, M., Lorenz-Fonfria, V.A., Jiménez-Altayó, F., Hellmich, U.A., Inada, H., Alcaraz, A., Furutani, Y., Nonell-Canals, A., Vázquez-Ibar, J.-L-., Domene, C., Gaudet, R., Perálvarez-Marín, A. (2023) Experimental and computational biophysics to identify vasodilator drugs targeted at TRPV2 based on the probenecid scaffold.
Comput. Struct. Biotechnol. J. 23:473-482, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2023.12.028
Hellmich, U.A. (2023) Dynamic ion channel defies dogma.
Nature, doi: d41586-023-02486-9
- invited News and Views Article for paper by the Scheuring lab on the first pentameric TRP channel structure
- Read their paper here: Lansky et al (2023) A pentameric TRPV3 channel with a dilated pore. Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06470-1
Goretzki, B., Wiedemann, C., McCray, B.A., Schäfer, S.L., Jansen, J., Tebbe, F., Mitrovic, S.A., Nöth, J., Claveras Cabezudo, A., Donohue, J., Jeffries, J.M., Steinchen, W., Stengel, F., Sumner, C.J., Hummer, G., Hellmich, U.A. (2023) Crosstalk between regulatory elements in the disordered TRPV4 N-terminus modulates lipid-dependent channel activity.
Nature Commun. 14: 4165, doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-39808-4
- Press release from FSU Jena
- Selected as a featured article in the Editors’ Highlights on "Structural biology, biochemistry and biophysics" in Nature Communications
- Featured as a Research Highlight in Nature Chemical Biology, doi: 10.1038/s41589-023-01440-0
Zhang, L., Simonsen, C., Zimova, L., Wang, K., Moparthi, L., Gaudet, R., Ekoff, M., Nilsson, G., Hellmich, U.A., Vlachova, V., Gourdon, P.E., Zygmunt, P.M. (2022) Cannabinoid non-cannabidiol site modulation of TRPV2 structure and function.
Nature Commun., 13: 7483, doi:s41467-022-35163-y
El Hamdaoui, Y., Zheng, F., Ye L., Fritz, N., Tran, M.A., Schwickert, K., Schirmeister, T., Braeuning, A., Lichtenstein, D., Hellmich. U.A., Weikert, D., Heinrich, M., Treccani, G., Schäfer, M.K.E., Nowak, G., Nürnberg, B., Alzheimer, C., Müller, C.P., Friedland, K. (2022) Analysis of hyperforin (St John’s wort) action at TRPC6 channels in mood disorders leads to new anti-depressants.
Molecular Psychiatry, 27: 5070–5085, doi: 10.1038/s41380-022-01804-3.
Wiedemann, C., Goretzki, B., Merz, Z.N., Tebbe, F., Schmitt, P., Hellmich, U.A. (2022) Extent of intrinsic disorder and NMR chemical shift assignments of the distal N-termini from human TRPV1, TRPV2 and TRPV3 ion channels.
Biomol. NMR Assign., 16: 289–296, doi: 10.1007/s12104-022-10093-4
Goretzki, B., Tebbe, F., Mitrovic, S.-A., Hellmich, U.A. (2022) Backbone NMR assignments of the extensive human and chicken TRPV4 N-terminal intrinsically disordered regions as important players in ion channel regulation.
Biomol. NMR Assign., 16: 205–212, doi: 10.1007/s12104-022-10080-9
Aisenberg, W.H., McCray, B.A., Sullivan, J.M., Diehl, E., Devine, L.R., Bagnell, A.M., Alevy, J., Carr, P., Goretzki, B., Cole, R.N., Hellmich, U.A., Sumner, C. (2022) Multi-ubiquitination of TRPV4 reduces channel activity independent of surface localization.
J. Biol. Chem., 298(4): 101826 doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2022.101826
Taga, A., Peyton, M., Goretzki, B., Gallagher, T.G., Ritter, A., Harper, A., Crawford, T.O., Hellmich, U.A., Sumner, C.J., McCray, B.A. (2022) TRPV4 mutations associated with mixed neuropathy and skeletal dysplasia phenotypes result in severe gain of ion channel function.
Ann. Clin. Transl. Neurol., 9(3): 375-391, doi:10.1002/acn3.51523
Hellmich*, U.A., Delemotte, L. (2022) TRP channels: branching out into the fungal kingdom.
Structure, 30(4): 2-4, doi.org/10.1016/j.str.2021.12.006 (*corr. author)
- invited preview for paper by the Moiseenkova-Bell lab on the first fungal TRP channel structure
- Read their paper here: Ahmed et al (2021) Structure of the ancient TRPY1 channel from Saccharomyces cerevisiae reveals mechanisms of modulation by lipids and calcium. Structure, S0969-2126(21)00298-7.
McCray, B.A., Diehl, E., Sullivan, J.M., Aisenberg, W.H., Zaccor, N.W., Lau, A.R., Rich, D., Goretzki, B., Hellmich, U.A., Lloyd, T.E., Sumner, C.J. (2021) Neuropathy-causing TRPV4 mutations disrupt TRPV4-RhoA interactions and impair neurite extension.
Nature Commun., 12:1444, doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21699-y
Goretzki, B., Guhl, C., Tebbe, F., Harder, J.-M., Hellmich, U.A. (2021) Unstructural Biology of TRP Ion Channels: The Role of Intrinsically Disordered Regions in Channel Function and Regulation.
J. Mol. Biol., 166931, doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2021.166931
Viet*, K.K., Wagner*, A., Schwickert*, K., Hellwig, N., Brennich, M., Bader, N., Schirmeister, T., Morgner, N., Schindelin, H., Hellmich, U.A. (2019) Structure of the human TRPML2 ion channel extracytosolic/lumenal domain.
Structure, 27(8):1246-1257. doi: 10.1016/j.str.2019.04.016. (*shared first authors)
- JGU Mainz press release
Goretzki*, B., Glogowski*, N.A., Diehl, E., Duchardt-Ferner, E., Hacker, C., Gaudet, R., Hellmich, U. A. (2018) Structural basis of TRPV4 N-terminus interaction with Syndapin/PACSIN1-3 and PIP2.
Structure, 26(12):1583-1593. doi: 10.1016/j.str.2018.08.002 (*shared first authors)
Howard*, R.J., Carnevale*, V., Delemotte*, L., Hellmich*, U. A., Rothberg*, B. (2018) Permeating disciplines: overcoming barriers between molecular simulations and classical structure-function approaches in biological ion transport.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1860(4):927-942. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2017.12.013. Front Cover. (*corresponding authors)
Hellmich*, U.A. and Gaudet*, R. (2014) High-resolution views of TRPV1 and their implications for the TRP channel superfamily. In Mammalian Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) cation channels, B. Nilius, and V. Flockerzi, eds. (Heidelberg, Germany: Springer DE).
Handb. Exp. Pharmacol. 223:991-1004. (*corresponding authors)
Hellmich*, U.A. and Gaudet*, R. (2014) Structural Biology of TRP Channels. In Mammalian Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) cation channels, B. Nilius, and V. Flockerzi, eds. (Heidelberg, Germany: Springer DE).
Handb. Exp. Pharmacol. 223:963-90. (*corresponding authors)
Garcia-Elias, A., Mrkonjic, S., Pardo-Pastor, C., Inada, H., Hellmich, U.A., Rubio-Moscardo, F., Plata, C., Gaudet, R., Vicente, R. and Valverde, M.A. (2013) PIP2-dependent rearrangement of TRPV4 cytosolic tails enables channel activation by physiological stimuli.
Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 110(23):9553-8.
Molecular Mechanisms of Microbial Communication
Zhang, B., Huang, Y., Schlabach, K., Tran, M.A., Nachawati, R., Bader, N., Komor, A., Hertweck, C., Schindelin, H., Lakemeyer*, M., Hellmich*, U.A., Stallforth*, P. (2026) Microbial DL-Peptidases Enable Predator Defense and Facilitate Structure Elucidation of Complex Natural Products.
J. Am. Chem. Soc., accepted (*co-corresponding authors)
Herbst, R., Ibrahim, A., Hubner, A., Knupfer, U., Regestein, L., Wiedemann, C., Hellmich, U.A., Warinner, C., Stallforth, P. (2025) Actifensin evolution in the human oral cavity over the past 100,000 years.
J. Am. Chem. Soc., accepted
Pérez Carrillo, V.H., Di Cesare, M., Rose-Sperling, D., Javed, W., Neuweiler, H., Marcoux, J., Orelle*, C., Jault*, J.-M., Hellmich*, U.A. (2025) Bidirectional communication between nucleotide and substrate binding sites in a type IV multidrug ABC transporter.
Nature Commun. 16, 9921, doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-65037-y
Zhang, B., Schlabach, K., Pérez Carrillo, V.H., Ibrahim, A., Komor, A., Mukherji, R., Chowdhury, S., Reimer, L., Trottmann, F., Hertweck, C., Hellmich, U.A., Stallforth, P. (2025) A chemical radar allows bacteria to detect and kill predators.
Cell, 188(9):2495-2504.e20, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.02.033
- featured in Cell Host & Microbe: doi:10.1016/j.chom.2025.04.012
- highlighted in Current Biology: doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.06.037
Pérez Carrillo, V.H., Whittaker, J.J., Wiedemann, C., Harder, J.-M., Lohr, T., Jamithireddy, A.K., Dajka, M., Goretzki, B., Joseph, B., Guskov, A., Harmer, N.J., Holzgrabe, U., Hellmich, U.A. (2025) Structure and dynamics of macrophage infectivity potentiator proteins from pathogenic bacteria and protozoans bound to fluorinated pipecolic acid inhibitors.
J. Med. Chem., accepted
Li, K.K., Cho*, Y.I., Tran, M.A., Wiedemann, C., Zhang, S., Koweek, R.S., Khánh Hoàng, N., Hamrick, G.S., Bowen, M.A., Koknona, B., Stallforth, P., Beld, J., Hellmich*, U.A., Charkoudian*, L. (2025) Strategic acyl carrier protein engineering enables functional type II polyketide synthase reconstitution in vitro. (*co-corresponding authors)
ACS Chem. Biol., 20(1): 197–207, https://doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.4c00678
Lohr, T., Herbst, C., Bzdyl, N.M., Jenkins, C., Scheuplein, N.J., Sugiarto, W.O., Whittaker, J.J., Guskov, A., Norville, I., Hellmich, U.A., Hausch, F., Sarkar-Tyson, M., Sotriffer, C., Holzgrabe, U. (2024) Improvement of inhibitors of the Macrophage Infectivity Potentiator protein from Trypanosoma cruzi, Burkholderia pseudomallei, and Legionella pneumophila – a comparison.
ACS Infectious Diseases 10(10): 3681–3691, doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.4c00553
Dell, M., Tran, M.A., Capper, M., Sundaram, S., Fiedler, J., Koehnke*, J., Hellmich*, U.A., Hertweck*, C. (2024) Trapping of a Polyketide Synthase Module After C-C Bond Formation Reveals Transient Acyl Carrier Domain Interactions. (*co-corresponding authors)
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., e202315850, doi: 10.1002/anie.202315850
Wiedemann, C., Whittaker, J.J., Pérez Carrillo, V.H., Goretzki, B., Dajka, M., Tebbe, F., Harder, J.-M., T., Krajczy, P., Joseph, B., Hausch, F., Guskov, A., Hellmich, U.A. (2023) Legionella pneumophila macrophage infectivity potentiator protein appendage domains modulate protein dynamics and inhibitor binding.
Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 252:126366. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126366
Deutscher, R., Karagöz, S., Purder, P., Kolos, J., Meyners, C., Sugiarto, W., Krajczy, P., Tebbe, F., Geiger, T., Ünal. C., Hellmich, U.A., Steinert, M., Hausch, F. (2023) [4.3.1] Bicyclic FKBP ligands inhibit Legionella pneumophila infection by LpMip-dependent and LpMip independent mechanisms.
ChemBioChem 24(21):e202300442. doi: 10.1002/cbic.202300442
Stallforth*, P., Mittag, M., Brakhage, A.A., Hertweck, C., Hellmich*, U.A. (2023) Functional Modulation of Chemical Mediators in Microbial Communities. (*corresponding authors)
Trends Biochem. Sci., 48(1): 71-81 doi: 10.1016/j.tibs.2022.07.006
Bando, Y., Hou, Y., Seyfarth, L., Probst, J., Götze, S., Bogacz, M., Hellmich, U.A., Stallforth, P., Mittag, M., Arndt, H.-D. (2022) Total Synthesis and Structural Correction of the Cyclic Lipodepsipeptide Orfamide A.
Chem. Eur. J., 28(20): e202104417, doi: 10.1002/chem.202104417
Pérez Carrillo, V.H., Rose-Sperling, D., Tran, M.A., Wiedemann, C., Hellmich, U.A. (2022) Backbone NMR assignments of the nucleotide binding domain of the Bacillus subtilis ABC multidrug transporter BmrA in the post-hydrolysis state.
Biomol. NMR Assign., 16(1):81-86, doi:10.1007/s12104-021-10063-2
Hamdoun*, A., Hellmich*, U.A., Kuchler*, K., Szakacs*, G. (2021) The Incredible Diversity of Structures and Functions of ABC Transporters.
FEBS Lett., 595(6):671-674. doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.14061 (invited editorial) (*corresponding authors)
Ford*, R. C., Hellmich*, U. A. (2020) What monomeric nucleotide binding domains can teach us about dimeric ABC proteins.
FEBS Lett., 594(23):3857–3875. doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.13921 (*corresponding authors)
FEBS Letters Special Edition "Diversity of Structure and Function of ABC Transporters", Guest Editors: Amro Hamdoun, Ute A. Hellmich, Karl Kuchler, Gergely Szakacs
Rose-Sperling, D., Tran, M. A., Lauth, L.M., Goretzki, B., Hellmich, U.A. (2019) 19F NMR as a versatile tool to study membrane protein structure and dynamics.
Biol. Chem., 400(10):1277-1288. doi: 10.1515/hsz-2018-0473
Szöllösi, D., Rose-Sperling, D, Hellmich, U. A., Stockner, T. (2018) Comparison of mechanistic transport cycle models of ABC exporters.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1860(4):818-832. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2017.10.028.
Hellmich*, U.A., McILwain*, B., Doshi*, R. (2018) Where do we go from here? Membrane protein research beyond the structure-function horizon. (invited editorial)
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1860(4):801-803. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2017.12.016. (*corresponding authors)
BBA Biomembranes Special Edition (2018) "Beyond the Structure-Function Horizon of Membrane Proteins", Guest Editors: Ute A. Hellmich, Rupak Doshi, Benjamin McIlwain
Neumann, J., Rose-Sperling, D. and Hellmich, U. A. (2017) Diverse relations between lipids and ABC transporters: an overview.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1859(4):605-618.
Hellmich*, U.A., Mönkemeyer, L., Velamakanni, S., van Veen, H.W., Glaubitz*, C. (2015) Effects of nucleotide binding to LmrA: A combined MAS-NMR and solution NMR study.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1848(12):3158-65. (*corresponding authors)
Hacker, C., Christ, N. A., Duchardt-Ferner, E., Korn, S., Göbl, C., Berninger, L., Düsterhus, S., Hellmich, U. A., Madl, T., Kötter, P., Entian, K., Wöhnert, J. (2015) The solution structure of the lantibiotic immunity protein NisI and its interactions with nisin.
J. Biol. Chem.290(48):28869-86.
Mörs, K., Hellmich, U.A., Basting, D., Marchand, P., Wurm, J.P., Haase, W. and Glaubitz, C. (2013) A lipid-dependent link between activity and oligomerization state of the M. tuberculosis SMR protein Tbsmr.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1828(2):561-7.
Christ, N.A., Bochmann, S., Gottstein, D., Duchardt-Ferner, E., Hellmich, U.A., Düsterhus, S., Kötter, P., Güntert, P., Entian, K.D. and Wöhnert, J. (2012) The first structure of a LanI protein, SpaI: The protein conferring autoimmunity against the lantibiotic subtilin in Bacillus subtilis reveals a novel fold.
J. Biol. Chem. 287(42):35286-98.
Hellmich*, U.A., Lyubenova*, S., Kaltenborn, E., Doshi, R., van Veen, H. W., Prisner, T.F. and Glaubitz, C. (2012) Probing the ATP hydrolysis cycle of the ABC multidrug transporter LmrA by pulsed EPR Spectroscopy.
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 134(13):5857-62.(*contributed equally)
Hellmich, U.A., Duchardt-Ferner, E., Glaubitz, C. and Wöhnert, J. (2012) Backbone NMR resonance assignments of the nucleotide binding domain of the ABC multidrug transporter LmrA from Lactococcus lactis in its ADP-bound state.
Biomol. NMR Assign. 6(1):69-73.
Ullrich*, S.J., Hellmich*, U.A., Ullrich, S. and Glaubitz, C. (2011) Interfacial enzyme kinetics of a membrane bound kinase analyzed by real-time MAS-NMR.
Nature Chem. Biol. 7(5):263-70. (*contributed equally)
Zutz, A., Hoffman, J., Hellmich, U.A., Glaubitz, C., Ludwig, B., Brutschy, B. and Tampé, R. (2011) Asymmetric ATP hydrolysis cycle of the heterodimeric multidrug ABC complex TmrAB from Thermus thermophiles.
J. Biol. Chem. 286(9):7104-15
Hellmich*, U.A. and Glaubitz, C. (2009) NMR and EPR on membrane transporters.
Biol. Chem. 390(8), 815-34. Invited Review (*corresponding author)
Pfleger, N., Wörner, A. C., Yang, J., Shastri, S., Hellmich, U.A., Aslimovska, L., Maier, M. S. M. and Glaubitz, C. (2009) Solid-state NMR and functional studies on Proteorhodopsin.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Bioenerg. 1787(6), 697-705
Hellmich*, U.A., Pfleger*, N. and Glaubitz, C. (2009) 19F NMR on Proteorhodopsin: enhanced protocol for labeling for general application on membrane proteins.
Photochem. Photobiol. 85(2), 535-539 (*contributed equally)
Hellmich, U.A., Haase, W., Velamakanni, S., van Veen, H. W. and Glaubitz, C. (2008) Caught in the Act: ATP hydrolysis of an ABC multidrug transporter by real-time MAS NMR.
FEBS Lett. 23(23-24), 3557-3562
Siarheyeva, A., Lopez, J. J., Lehner, I., Hellmich, U.A., van Veen, H. W. and Glaubitz, C. (2007) Probing the Molecular Dynamics of the ABC Multidrug Transporter LmrA by Deuterium Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.
Biochemistry 46(11); 3075-3083
Neglected Tropical Diseases & Host/Pathogen Interactions
Herbst, R., Ibrahim, A., Hubner, A., Knupfer, U., Regestein, L., Wiedemann, C., Hellmich, U.A., Warinner, C., Stallforth, P. (2025) Actifensin evolution in the human oral cavity over the past 100,000 years.
J. Am. Chem. Soc., accepted
Schwegler, E., Hellmich. U.A. (2025) Backbone NMR assignments of the essential oxidoreductase Tryparedoxin from the human pathogenic parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Biomol. NMR Assign., accepted
Pérez Carrillo, V.H., Whittaker, J.J., Wiedemann, C., Harder, J.-M., Lohr, T., Jamithireddy, A.K., Dajka, M., Goretzki, B., Joseph, B., Guskov, A., Harmer, N.J., Holzgrabe, U., Hellmich, U.A. (2025) Structure and dynamics of macrophage infectivity potentiator proteins from pathogenic bacteria and protozoans bound to fluorinated pipecolic acid inhibitors.
J. Med. Chem., 68(5):5926-5941, doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5c00134
Lohr, T., Herbst, C., Bzdyl, N.M., Jenkins, C., Scheuplein, N.J., Sugiarto, W.O., Whittaker, J.J., Guskov, A., Norville, I., Hellmich, U.A., Hausch, F., Sarkar-Tyson, M., Sotriffer, C., Holzgrabe, U. (2024) Improvement of inhibitors of the Macrophage Infectivity Potentiator protein from Trypanosoma cruzi, Burkholderia pseudomallei, and Legionella pneumophila – a comparison.
ACS Infectious Diseases 10(10): 3681–3691, doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.4c00553
Schwickert, K.K., Glitscher, M., Bender, D., Murra, R., Schwickert, K., Pfalzgraf, S., Schirmeister, T., Hellmich*, U.A., Hildt*, E. (2024) Zika virus replication is impaired by a selective agonist of the TRPML2 ion channel. (*co-corresponding authors)
Antiviral. Res. 228:105940, doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2024.105940
Wiedemann, C., Whittaker, J.J., Pérez Carrillo, V.H., Goretzki, B., Dajka, M., Tebbe, F., Harder, J.-M., T., Krajczy, P., Joseph, B., Hausch, F., Guskov, A., Hellmich, U.A. (2023) Legionella pneumophila macrophage infectivity potentiator protein appendage domains modulate protein dynamics and inhibitor binding.
Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 252:126366. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126366
Deutscher, R., Karagöz, S., Purder, P., Kolos, J., Meyners, C., Sugiarto, W., Krajczy, P., Tebbe, F., Geiger, T., Ünal. C., Hellmich, U.A., Steinert, M., Hausch, F. (2023) [4.3.1] Bicyclic FKBP ligands inhibit Legionella pneumophila infection by LpMip-dependent and LpMip independent mechanisms.
ChemBioChem 24(21):e202300442. doi: 10.1002/cbic.202300442
Maus, H., Hammerschmidt, S.J., Hinze, G., Barthels, F., Pérez Carrillo, V.H., Hellmich, U.A., Basché, T., Schirmeister, T. (2023) The effects of allosteric and competitive inhibitors on ZIKV protease conformational dynamics explored through smFRET, nanoDSF, DSF, and 19F-NMR.
Eur. J. Med. Chem., 258: 115573, doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2023.115573
Previti, S., Ettari, R., Di Chio, C., Ravichandran, R., Bogacz, M., Hellmich, U.A., Schirmeister, T., Cosconati, S., Zappalà. M. (2022) Development of Reduced Peptide Bond Pseudopeptide Michael Acceptors for the Treatment of Human African Trypanosomiasis.
Molecules. 27(12):3765. doi: 10.3390/molecules27123765.
Jung, S., Fuchs, N., Grathwohl, C., Hellmich, U.A., Wagner, A., Diehl, E., Willmes, T., Sotriffer, C., Schirmeister, T. (2022) New peptidomimetic rhodesain inhibitors with improved selectivity towards human cathepsins.
Eur. J. Med. Chem., 238: 114460, doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2022.114460
Di Chio, C., Previti, S., Amendola, G., Ravichandran, R., Wagner, A., Cosconati, S., Hellmich, U.A., Schirmeister, T., Zappalà, M., Ettari, R. (2022) Development of novel dipeptide nitriles as inhibitors of rhodesain of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense.
Eur. J. Med. Chem., 236: 114328, doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2022.114328
Johé, P., Jaenicke, E., Neuweiler, H., Schirmeister, T., Kersten, C., Hellmich, U.A (2021) Structure, interdomain dynamics and pH-dependent autoactivation of pro-rhodesain, the main lysosomal cysteine protease from African trypanosomes.
J. Biol. Chem., 296:100565, doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100565
Jung, S., Fuchs, N., Johé, P., Wagner, A., Diehl, E., Yuliani, T., Zimmer, C., Barthels, F., Klein, P., Opatz, T., Tenzer, S., Distler, U., Räder, H.-J., Weil, T., Kersten, C., Hellmich, U.A., Klein, J., Schirmeister, T. (2021) Fluorovinylsulfones and -sulfonates as potent covalent reversible inhibitors of the trypanosomal cysteine protease rhodesain: SAR, inhibition mechanism, metabolism and in vivo studies.
J. Med. Chem., 64(16):12322-12358, doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01002
- Winner of the Phoenix Science Award in the category Pharmaceutical Chemistry!
Götz, C., Hinze, G., Gellert, A., Maus, H., von Hammerstein, F., Hammerschmidt, S., Lauth, L.M., Hellmich, U.A., Schirmeister, T., Basché, T. (2021) Conformational Dynamics of the Dengue Virus Protease revealed by Fluorescence Correlation and Single-Molecule FRET studies.
J. Phys. Chem. B, 125(25): 6837–6846, doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c01797
Johé, P., Jung, S., Endres, E., Kersten, C., Zimmer, C., Ye, W., Sönnichsen, C., Hellmich, U.A., Sotriffer, C., Schirmeister, T., Neuweiler, H. (2021) Warhead reactivity limits the speed of inhibition of the cysteine protease rhodesain.
ACS Chem. Biol., 16(4):661–670, doi: 10.1021/acschembio.0c00911
Maiorana, S., Ettari, R., Previti, S., Amendola, G., Wagner, A., Cosconati, S., Hellmich, U.A., Schirmeister, T., Zappalà, M. (2020) Peptidyl vinyl ketone irreversible inhibitors of rhodesain: modifications of the P2 fragment.
ChemMedChem, 15(16):1552-1561. doi: 10.1002/cmdc.202000360
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., 59(31):12669-12673 doi: 10.1002/anie.202000539 (*corresponding authors)
Klein, P., Barthels, F., Johé, P., Wagner, A., Tenzer, S., Distler, U., Le, T.A., Schmid, P., Engel, V., Engels, B., Hellmich, U.A., Opatz, T., Schirmeister, T. (2020) Naphthoquinones as inhibitors of cysteine proteases.
Molecules, 25(9):2064. doi: 10.3390/molecules25092064
Klein, P., Johé, P., Wagner, A., Jung, S., Kühlborn, J., Tenzer, S., Distler, U., Waigel, W., Engels, B., Hellmich, U.A., Opatz, T., Schirmeister, T. (2020) New Cysteine Protease Inhibitors: Electrophilic (Het)arenes and unexpected Prodrug Identification.
Molecules, 25(6):1451. doi: 10.3390/molecules25061451
Millies, B., von Hammerstein, F., Gellert, A., Hammerschmidt, S., Barthels, F., Göppel, U., Immerheiser, M., Elgner, F., Jung, N., Basic, M., Kersten, C., Kiefer, W., Bodem, J., Hildt, E., Windbergs, M., Hellmich*, U.A., Schirmeister*, T. (2019) Proline-based allosteric inhibitors of Zika and Dengue virus NS2B/NS3 proteases.
J. Med. Chem. 62(24):11359-11382. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b01697 (*corresponding authors)
Ettari, R., Previti, S., Maiorana, S., Amendola, G., Wagner, A., Cosconati, S., Schirmeister, T., Hellmich, U.A., Zappalà, M. (2019) Optimization strategy of novel peptide-based Michael acceptors for the treatment of Human African Trypanosomiasis.
J. Med. Chem. 62(23):10617-10629. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b00908
von Hammerstein*, F., Lauth*, L. M., Hammerschmidt, S., Wagner, A., Schirmeister, T., Hellmich, U.A. (2019) Cis autocatalytic cleavage of glycine‐linked Zika virus NS2B‐NS3 protease constructs.
FEBS Lett. 593(16):2204-2213. doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.13507. (*shared first authors)
Wagner, A., Le, T.A., Brennich, M., Klein, P., Bader, N., Diehl, E., Paszek, D., Weickhmann, A.K., Dirdjaja, N., Krauth-Siegel, R.L., Engels, B., Opatz, T., Schindelin, H., Hellmich, U.A. (2019) Inhibitor-Induced Dimerization of an Essential Oxidoreductase from African Trypanosomes.
Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed. 58(11):3640-3644. doi: 10.1002/anie.201810470
- featured as an ESRF Spotlight on Science
- JGU Mainz press release
Wagner, A., Le, T. A., Brennich, M., Klein, P., Bader, N., Diehl, E., Paszek, D., Weickhmann, A. K., Dirdjaja, N., Krauth-Siegel, R. L., Engels, B., Opatz, T., Schindelin, H., Hellmich, U.A. (2019) Inhibitor-induzierte Dimerisierung einer essentiellen Oxidoreduktase aus Afrikanischen Trypanosomen. doi: 10.1002/ange.201810470
Angewandte Chemie, 131(11):3679-3683
Preveti, S., Ettari, R., Cosconati, S., Amendola, G., Chouchene, K., Wagner, A., Hellmich, U.A., Ulrich, K., Krauth-Siegel, R.L., Wich, P.R., Schmid, I., Schirmeister, T., Gut, J., Rosenthal, P.J., Grasso, S., Zappalà, M. (2017) Development of novel peptide-based Michael acceptors targeting rhodesain and falcipain-2 for the treatment of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).
J. Med. Chem. 60(16):6911-6923.
Wagner, A., Diehl, E., Krauth-Siegel, R.L., Hellmich, U. A. (2017) Backbone NMR assignments of tryparedoxin, the central protein in the hydroperoxide detoxification cascade of African trypanosomes, in the oxidized and reduced form.
Biomol. NMR Assign. 11(2):193-196.
Latorre, A., Schirmeister, T., Kesselring, J., Jung, S., Johé, P., Hellmich, U. A., Heilos, A., Engels, B., Krauth-Siegel, R. L., Dirdjaja, N., Bou-Iserte, L., Rodríguez, S., González, F. V. (2016) Dipeptidyl Nitroalkenes as Potent Reversible Inhibitors of Cysteine Proteases Rhodesain and Cruzain.
ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 7(12):1073-1076.
Schirmeister, T., Kesselring, J., Jung, S., Schneider, T., Weickert, A., Becker, J., Lee, W., Bamberger, D., Wich, P. R., Distler, U., Tenzer, S., Johé, P., Hellmich, U. A., Engels, B. (2016) Quantum chemical-based Protocol for the rational Design of covalent Inhibitors.
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 138(27):8332-5.
Other Topics
Neissner, K., Duchardt-Ferner, E., Wiedemann, C., Kraus, J., Hellmich, U.A., Wöhnert, J. (2025) Protonated Glutamate and Aspartate Side Chains Can Recognize Phosphodiester
Groups via Strong and Short Hydrogen Bonds in Biomacromolecular Complexes.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., accepted
Bothe, S., Hänzelmann, P., Boehler, S., Kehrein, J., Zehe., M., Wiedemann, C., Hellmich, U.A., Brenk, R., Schindelin, H., Sotriffer, C. (2022) Fragment screening using biolayer interferometry reveals ligands targeting the SHP-motif binding site of the AAA+ ATPase p97.
Commun. Chem. 5, 169, doi: 10.1038/s42004-022-00782-5
Zengerling, L., Kemper. B., Hellmich, U.A., Besenius, P. (2021) Synthesis and Structural Stability of α-Helical Au(I)-Metallopeptides.
Synlett, 32:344-349, doi: 10.1055/a-1290-8412
Wesenberg, L., Diehl, E., Zähringer, T.B., Dörr, C., Schollmeyer, D., Shimizu, A., Yoshida, J., Hellmich, U.A., Waldvogel, S.R. (2020) Metal-free Twofold Electrochemical C-H Amination of Activated Arenes: Application to Medicinally Relevant Precursor Syntheses.
Chem. Eur. J., 26(72):17574-17580. doi: 10.1002/chem.202003852
Jungglas, B., Orru, R., Axt, A., Siebenaller, C., Steinchen, W., Heidrich, J., Hellmich, U.A., Hellmann, N., Wolf, E., Weber, S.L., Schneider, D. (2020) IM30 IDPs form a membrane protective carpet upon super-complex disassembly.
Commun. Biol., 3(1):595. doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01314-4
Goretzki, B., Heiby, J., Hacker, C. Neuweiler, H., Hellmich, U.A. (2020) NMR assignments of a dynamically perturbed and dimerization inhibited N-terminal domain variant of a spider silk protein from E. australis.
Biomol NMR Assign. 14:67–71. doi: 10.1007/s12104-019-09922-w.
Steiert, E., Ewald, J., Wagner, A., Hellmich, U.A., Frey, H., Wich, P.R. (2020) pH-Responsive Protein Nanoparticles via Conjugation of Degradable PEG to the Surface of Cytochrome c.
Polymer Chem. 11:551-559. doi: 10.1039/C9PY01162E
Heiby*, J., Goretzki*, B., Johnson, C., Hellmich#, U.A., Neuweiler#, H. (2019) Methionine in a protein hydrophobic core drives tight interactions required for assembly of spider silk.
Nature Commun. 10(1):4378. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12365-5. (*shared first authors, #corresponding authors)
- featured in Laborjournal
- behind the paper Nature Research Chemistry Community
- featured in German print media, e.g. here, here, here or here
- JGU Mainz press release
Hellmich, U.A., Weis, B.L., Luitikov, A., Wurm, J.P., Christ, N.A., Hantke, K., Kötter, P., Entian, K.D., Schleiff, E. and Wöhnert, J. (2013) Essential ribosome assembly factor Fap7 regulates a hierarchy of RNA-protein interactions during small ribosomal subunit biogenesis.
Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 110(38):15253-8.
Hellmich, U.A. and Wöhnert, J. (2013) Backbone resonance assignments for a homolog of the essential ribosome biogenesis factor Fap7 from P. horikoshii in its nucleotide-free and -bound forms.
Biomol. NMR Assign. 7(2):261-5.
Reviews, Editorials and Special Editions
Hellmich, U.A. (2023) Dynamic ion channel defies dogma.
Nature, doi: d41586-023-02486-9
- invited News and Views Article for paper by the Scheuring lab on the first pentameric TRP channel structure
- Read their paper here: Lansky et al (2023) A pentameric TRPV3 channel with a dilated pore. Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06470-1
Stallforth*, P., Mittag, M., Brakhage, A.A., Hertweck, C., Hellmich*, U.A. (2023) Functional Modulation of Chemical Mediators in Microbial Communities. (*corresponding authors)
Trends Biochem. Sci., 48(1): 71-81, doi: 10.1016/j.tibs.2022.07.006
Hellmich*, U.A., Delemotte, L. (2022) TRP channels: branching out into the fungal kingdom.
Structure, 30(4): 2-4, doi.org/10.1016/j.str.2021.12.006 (*corr. author)
- invited preview for paper by the Moiseenkova-Bell lab on the first fungal TRP channel structure
- Read their paper here: Ahmed et al (2021) Structure of the ancient TRPY1 channel from Saccharomyces cerevisiae reveals mechanisms of modulation by lipids and calcium. Structure, S0969-2126(21)00298-7.
Goretzki, B., Guhl, C., Tebbe, F., Harder, J.-M., Hellmich, U.A. (2021) Unstructural Biology of TRP Ion Channels: The Role of Intrinsically Disordered Regions in Channel Function and Regulation.
J. Mol. Biol., 166931, doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2021.166931
Hamdoun*, A., Hellmich*, U.A., Kuchler*, K., Szakacs*, G. (2021) The Incredible Diversity of Structures and Functions of ABC Transporters.
FEBS Lett., 595(6):671-674. doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.14061 (invited editorial) (*corresponding authors)
Ford*, R. C., Hellmich*, U. A. (2020) What monomeric nucleotide binding domains can teach us about dimeric ABC proteins.
FEBS Lett., 594(23):3857–3875. doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.13921 (*corresponding authors)
FEBS Letters Special Edition (2021) "Diversity of Structure and Function of ABC Transporters", Guest Editors: Amro Hamdoun, Ute A. Hellmich, Karl Kuchler, Gergely Szakacs
Rose-Sperling, D., Tran, M. A., Lauth, L.M., Goretzki, B., Hellmich, U.A. (2019) 19F NMR as a versatile tool to study membrane protein structure and dynamics.
Biol. Chem., 400(10):1277-1288. doi: 10.1515/hsz-2018-0473
Howard*, R.J., Carnevale*, V., Delemotte*, L., Hellmich*, U. A., Rothberg*, B. (2018) Permeating disciplines: overcoming barriers between molecular simulations and classical structure-function approaches in biological ion transport.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1860(4):927-942. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2017.12.013. Front Cover. (*corresponding authors)
Szöllösi, D., Rose-Sperling, D, Hellmich, U. A., Stockner, T. (2018) Comparison of mechanistic transport cycle models of ABC exporters.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1860(4):818-832. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2017.10.028.
Hellmich*, U.A., McILwain*, B., Doshi*, R. (2018) Where do we go from here? Membrane protein research beyond the structure-function horizon. (invited editorial)
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1860(4):801-803. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2017.12.016. (*corresponding authors)
BBA Biomembranes Special Edition (2018) "Beyond the Structure-Function Horizon of Membrane Proteins", Guest Editors: Ute A. Hellmich, Rupak Doshi, Benjamin McIlwain
Neumann, J., Rose-Sperling, D. and Hellmich, U. A. (2017) Diverse relations between lipids and ABC transporters: an overview.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta Biomembr. 1859(4):605-618. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2016.09.023
Hellmich*, U.A. and Gaudet*, R. (2014) High-resolution views of TRPV1 and their implications for the TRP channel superfamily. In Mammalian Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) cation channels, B. Nilius, and V. Flockerzi, eds. (Heidelberg, Germany: Springer DE).
Handb. Exp. Pharmacol. 223:991-1004. (*corresponding authors)
Hellmich*, U.A. and Gaudet*, R. (2014) Structural Biology of TRP Channels. In Mammalian Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) cation channels, B. Nilius, and V. Flockerzi, eds. (Heidelberg, Germany: Springer DE).
Handb. Exp. Pharmacol. 223:963-90. (*corresponding authors)
Hellmich*, U.A. and Glaubitz, C. (2009) NMR and EPR on membrane transporters.
Biol. Chem. 390(8), 815-34. Invited Review (*corresponding author)