During cell division the genetic blueprint of an organism is distributed equally between two daughter cells. Eukaryotic cells have evolved a powerful control mechanism which ensures that cell division only proceeds when chromosomes have achieved error-free attachments to the mitotic spindle. In the latest volume of Current Biology, a paper from Stefan Westermann (A1) and his group in collaboration with Andrea Musacchio (A2), Markus Kaiser (B1), and Farnusch Kaschani (Z3) was released. The study sheds light on the long lasting question how cells coordinate the metaphase-anaphase transition with correct spindle attachments. Pleuger et al. define a binding interface of the regulatory kinase Mps1 at the kinetochore, anchor for spindle attachments at the chromosomes as well as signaling hub for mitotic progression. They proceed by showing that the maturation of correct end-on attachments results in the displacement of Mps1 from kinetochores and identify the molecular features of the outer kinetochore leading to the regulation.

The new lecture series, „Sex and Gender in the Life Sciences”, aims to showcase perspectives on how research in the life sciences can utilize the analytical potential of the gender dimension. The CRC 1430, along with six other major DFG networks at the University of Duisburg-Essen, are participating in this innovative seminar series. This initiative is led by UDE’s strategic research area „Biomedical Sciences”, represented by the Erwin L. Hahn Institute (ELH), the Center of Medical Biotechnology (ZMB), and the Essen College of Gender Research.

The CRC 1430 organized another get-together giving the female members of the CRC1430 a chance to exchange their experiences in scientific research and engage in discussions on how to support the carreers of women. These meetings take place alternatley in the UKE „casino“ and at campus Essen at „Brücke“ every 6 weeks, giving female scientists the chance to network and discuss various topics. Join us for our next get-together at “Brücke” June 19th!

The latest paper by Pinki Gahlot from the Meyer lab (A03), published in Molecular Cell, reveals how human cells detect and respond to lipid bilayer disruptions in compromised lysosomes, leading to lysophagy via ubiquitin-triggered pathways instead of membrane repair. SPG20, binding to the repair factor IST1, detects damage-associated lipid-packing defects before membrane rupture. These extensive defects lead SPG20 to recruit and activate ITCH, initiating lysophagy to eliminate the damaged lysosome. These findings underscore the importance of coordinated lysosomal damage responses for maintaining cellular homeostasis.

Congratulations to Kristina Mrug, who successfully defended her PhD thesis „egulation of the pulsatory contraction signal network dynamics during cell division“ on March 14, 2024.

Congratulations to Maike Reinders, who successfully defended her PhD thesis „A rapid degradation approach for VCP/p97 cofactor proteins and its application in analyzing Ataxin-3 function in lysophagy“ on March 5th, 2024.

Two new papers on cell migration were published by Prof. Dr. Perihan Nalbant (MB) in cooperation with Dr. Leif Dehmelt (Chemistry and Chemical Biology, TU Dortmund). For efficient cell migration dynamic cell shape changes need to be coordinated. Most cell types form protrusions in the front and a retracting tail. In these two papers the groups used TIRF microscopy and translocation sensors to measure Rho GTPase activity which play a key role in the spatio-temporal coordination of  the relevant cytoskeletal dynamics.

Congratulations to Mirko Schmidt, who successfully defended his PhD thesis „Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Tool Compounds for the Cellular Investigation of Deubiquitinases“ on November 30, 2023.

Congratulations to Bilal Tetik for successfully defending his PhD thesis „Bipartite GINS binding mode of TopBP1 to activate the metazoan Mcm2-7 replicative helicase“ on November 21, 2023.

We congratulate Milena Parlak, who successfully defended her PhD thesis „TopBP1 loads GINS onto the Metazoan Mcm2-7 Helicase during Replication Origin Firing“ on October 27, 2023.

We thank all speakers and participants for contributing to the success of our 1st International Symposium Triggers of Cell State Transitions! Location: Glaspavillon, University Duisburg-Essen, Campus Essen.

The CRC1430 is pleased to welcome Dr. Katarzyna Kliza as an associated principal investigator. Katarzyna is a Research Group Leader at the MPI of Molecular Physiology, where she is engaged in studying the Decoding of Post-Translational Modification Signalling Networks, with a specific focus on ADP-ribosylation. Her research involves a multifaceted and interdisciplinary approach, incorporating proteomics, biochemistry, molecular, and cell biology techniques.

Congratulations to Eda Şamiloğlu Tengirşek from the Gatsogiannis Lab (A04) for receiving the PhD Fellowship by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes! We are proud to see that our short-term fellowships offer such opportunities for our PhD Students.

From 19th to 21st of September the Practical Training Course Acute manipulation and sensor-based readout of dynamic cell behaviour and cell state transitions using advanced light microscopy techniques offered by the ICCE took place. The participants got to know new methods and insights to advance their research.

The highly complex, multimodal high-speed Structured Illumination Microscope (SIM) for live-cell imaging can be used by our CRC 1430 researchers to decipher important dynamic cellular processes and cell state transitions with very high spatial and temporal precision. In addition to the versatility of different imaging modalities such as multicolor 3D-SIM, 2D-SIM, TIRF-SIM and TIRF and their flexible combinations, the system allows acute light-induced manipulations and the observation of the effects on cellular activities in real time. The Microscope was obtained through DFG funding (Major Research Instrumentation Programme as per Art. 91b GG, INST 20876/294-1 FUGG) to Prof. Perihan Nalbant and Co-Applicants.

The latest paper by Annette Paschen (A13) and her group was recently published in the Journal of Clinical Cancer Research. Their research establishes a connection between melanoma resistance and CD4 T cells, IFNγ, and ICB, all at the HLA-II level. This underscores the importance of tumor cell-intrinsic HLA-II antigen presentation in controlling the disease and emphasizes the need for strategies to counteract its downregulation, aiming for better patient outcomes.

There is a new paper published in Cell Chemical Biology, featuring the cover. Martin Schwalm from the Knapp lab (B03) and his colleagues have developed a cell-based assays to measure PROTAC (PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras) -induced degradation and ternary complex formation kinetics and stability in cells. These assays offer a strategy for the rational optimization of PROTACs in early degradation cascades.

In the newest volume of the Nature Cancer Journal, there is a new paper by Alexander Rösch (A11) and his group. Their paper highlights the significance of interleukin (IL)-17A in BRAFV600-mutated melanomas. The study reveals elevated IL-17A levels in melanoma patients' blood, particularly in those responding well to dual immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) treatment. This indicates IL-17A's potential as a future biomarker for patient stratification. Dual ICI therapy, combining anti-PD1 and anti-CTLA-4 treatments, is found to benefit patients with higher IL-17A levels, boosting the body's tumor defense mechanism

In the newest volume of the European Journal of Organic Chemistry Journal, there is a new paper by Markus Kaiser (B01) and his group.This work introduces a catalyst-free, multicomponent method for oxazolidinone synthesis. By ingeniously combining primary aliphatic/aromatic amines with dibromoethane and using cesium carbonate/hydrogencarbonate as base and C1 source, the study enables streamlined late-stage functionalization of amino groups into N-substituted oxazolidinones. Notably, the versatility of this approach shines through in the synthesis of an oxazolidinone-modified dipeptidyl peptidase 8 (DPP8) inhibitor, showcasing its potential in medicinal chemistry.

This year's CRC 1430 Retreat took place from June 5 - 7, 2023 at the Hotel Mutterhaus in Düsseldorf.

Verena Cmentowski, doctoral researcher in the lab of Andrea Musacchio at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund, was awarded one of the three poster prizes at the IMPRS-LM Student Symposium 2023 Building Blocks of Life, on 10th to 12th May 2023. Congrats, Verena!

20.06.2023: Jan Riemer (University Cologne);

11.07.2023: Renata Basto (Institute Curie Paris);

05.12.2023: Patrizia Agostinis (VIB-Center for Cancer Biology Leuven)

Der Deutsche Krebspreis 2023 in der Kategorie „Experimentelle Forschung“ geht an Prof. Dr. Christian Reinhardt, Forscher an der Medizinischen Fakultät der UDE. Sein Forschungsschwerpunkt liegt in den Bereichen der Genomstabilität und der Biologie von aggressiven Lymphomen auch „Lymphdrüsenkrebs“ genannt. Professor Reinhardt ist Direktor der Klinik für Hämatologie und Stammzelltransplantation des Universitätsklinikums Essen.

Was macht exzellente Forschung aus, wie ist Exzellenz eigentlich definiert und in welchem Verhältnis stehen Exzellenz und Chancengerechtigkeit zueinander? Diese und weitere Fragen untersucht Prof. Dr. Ute Klammer und ihr Team im aktuellen BMBF-Projekt „EXENKO“. Dieses Forschungs- und Praxisprojekt des Instituts für Soziologie (IfS) und des Essener Kollegs für Geschlechterforschung (EKfG) steht im Mittelpunkt des diesjährigen ASPIRE Afternoon, zu dem die Sonderforschungsbereiche 1093 und 1430 der Chemie, Biologie und Medizin am 23. November ab 15.15 Uhr herzlich einladen.

Congratulations to Professor Dr. Barbara Grüner! She recently accepted a professorship for 'Cell plasticity and metastasis' at the University Hospital Essen. As part of our CRC 1430, Prof. Dr. Barbara Grüner studies how mestatasis is driven by transitions in cell state.

Congratulations to Beatrice Thier, who successfully defended her PhD thesis Treatment-induced sculpting of melanoma phenotype and immunogenicity – Impact on resistance to CD8 T cells on October 24, 2022.

A new paper is out, published in the Journal of Proteome Research with a cover image featured in the current issue. It introduces PPI-Affinity, a web tool developed by scientists of the groups of Elsa Sánchez García and Michael Ehrmann. The web server scores protein–protein and protein–peptide complexes based on their predicted binding affinity and also optimizes the affinity of a complex by mutating and screening selected residues. PPI-Affinity can be employed at early steps of drug design processes and thus support the design of new  therapeutics significantly. PPI-Affinity is freely accessible at https://protdcal.zmb.uni-due.de/PPIAffinity.

Prof. Dr. Andrea Musacchio (A02) from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund was honored by the Vallee Foundation by appointing him Valle Visiting Professors (VPP). He plans to spend his one-month VVP sabbatical at Stanford University which hosts an exceptional community of cell cycle, cytoskeleton, and chromosome biology researchers.

Beatrice Thier’s (Paschen lab) presentation of her work on Melanoma cell state transition (recently published in JITC) received the 1st poster prize at the TIMO XVI conference. Work of grad student Jason Mak (Musacchio lab) on bioconjugation was honored with a poster prize at the Biochemistry 2022 meeting of the GDCh.

Trillions of cells in our bodies constantly work to keep us alive, producing waste that is broken down in specialized cellular compartments. But what happens when these cellular 'trash cans' fail? Scientists suspect that such malfunctions are linked to numerous diseases. The team led by Prof. Hemmo Meyer (A03), in collaboration with researchers from Munich, has now demonstrated how cells defend themselves against defective waste disposal systems.

Congratulations! A. Roesch and colleagues were able to find a new active substance to make persisting cancer cells vulnerable to drug treatment. The interdisciplinary effort involved members from four of our CRC 1430 projects. The work of postdoc H. Chauvisté was recently published in Nature Communications.

Congratulations to our CRC 1430 member Christos Gatsiogiannis at the Münster University. Christos is part of a group of researcher that will receive 7.5 million euros in funding from the German Research Foundation and State of NRW to establish a high-end cryoEM center.

Prof. Dr. Doris Hellerschmied (A07) was honored with the 2021 Research Prize for her significant research on 'The Myosin Chaperone UNC-45 and its Role in Protein Folding and Degradation in Skeletal and Heart Muscle.' The award ceremony, originally planned for 2021, had to be postponed due to the pandemic and was recently held. The theme of the prize that year was 'Basic Research on Biomolecules to Cells and Cell Systems with Medical Potential'.

CRC 1430 member Dr. Batool Shannan (Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Essen) was awarded the ETOS (Essen Translational Oncology Symposium) “mine lamp” trophy 2022 for the best scientific talk. She showed how multimodal therapy strategies are able to surpass the resistance of therapy in Melanoma patients. Batool is a postdoc in the group of Dr. Alexander Roesch (A11).

Congratulations to Giulia Rota for successfully defending her PhD thesis Regulation of protein ubiquitination during lysophagy on January 26, 2022.

We congratulate Alexander Dudziak, who successfully defended his PhD thes Biochemical and genetic analysis of Dam1c ring assembly at the budding yeast kinetochore on December 17, 2021.

In our bodies several hundred billions of cells divide each day to replenish tissues and maintain important functions of our organism. The proliferation of cells requires that their genetic blueprint, packaged in the form of chromosomes, is precisely copied and distributed between the daughter cells during each cell division.

Damit sich ein Organismus entwickeln und regenerieren kann, müssen sich Zellen vermehren. Während der Vermehrung werden nacheinander mehrere genau definierte Zustände durchlaufen, deren Übergänge strikt reguliert werden. Die hierfür zentralen molekularen Mechanismen untersucht jetzt ein neuer Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB), den die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) an der UDE eingerichtet hat.

Die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) richtet zur weiteren Stärkung der Spitzenforschung an den Hochschulen elf neue Sonderforschungsbereiche (SFB) ein. Dies beschloss der zuständige Bewilligungsausschuss, der wegen der Coronavirus-Pandemie per Videokonferenz tagte.