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New D-BIOL Executive Committee
On 1 October 2020, a new Executive Committee took up its work in the Department of Biology. The department is now headed by three female professors: the new head of the department is Annette Oxenius (IMB), her deputy is Sabine Werner (IMHS), and the director of studies is Julia Vorholt (IMB).
Enabling NMR Studies of High Molecular Weight Systems Without the Need for Deuteration
The new NMR technology reported by the Gossert group in "Angewandte Chemie Intl. Ed." enables studying proteins >100 kDa without the need of complicated deuteration protocols. This facilitates NMR studies of proteins produced in mammalian cells like GPCRs, therapeutic antibodies and large molecular complexes.
Exhausted CD8 T cells exhibit strongly inhibited TCR signaling during chronic infection
Chronic infections are characterized by the inability of CD8 T cells to clear the virus leading to persistent viral loads. A recent ‘Nature Communications’ paper by the Oxenius (IMB) and Claassen groups (IMSB) shows that CD8 T cells are strongly inhibited in vivo, but retain cytotoxic potential.
In-Plate Quantitative Characterization of Arabidopsis thaliana Susceptibility to the Fungal Vascular Pathogen Fusarium oxysporum
Fusarium oxysporum, the causal agent of Fusarium wilt in crops, is one of the most devastating root vascular pathogens in the world. Recently, Apolonio I. Huerta et al., from the Sánchez-Rodríguez group (IMPB), published a method for quantification of F. oxysporum disease progression in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana through the analysis of in vivo root growth inhibition and root vasculature colonization.
Cryo-EM structure of the human uromodulin filament core: a unique assembly mechanism
Homopolymeric filaments of uromodulin promote pathogen clearance in urinary tract infections. A recent "eLife" paper by Stanisich et al. (IMBB) unveils an unexpected filament architecture, indicating that UMOD assembly is synchronized with proteolytic release of precursors from the membrane.