Research Area B: Structural Biology of Inflammation - Molecular Interactions

Leader of the RA:  Joachim Grötzinger (structural biology), Rolf Hilgenfeld (biochemistry & structural biology)

The onset and further course of inflammatory processes is based on a complex interplay between various exogenous and endogenous agents and receptor molecules.  The understanding of these processes is rather incomplete due to a lack of overlapping structural and functional knowledge about the molecules in­volved. The goal of this Research Area is to study the connection between structural and functional aspects of inflammatory molecules by merging the efforts of structural biology research groups at the Universities of Kiel and Lübeck and FZB.  The groups benefit uniquely from access to the near-by DESY synchro­tron at Hamburg, where UzL operates a beamline and a new outstation (see below). New structure­based insights into inflammatory processes will pro­vide important new targets to develop therapeutic concepts for combating inflammation. 

Scientists (young/new scientists underlined):

Nicolas Gisch, Thomas Gutsmann, Otto Holst, Christian Hübner, Buko Lindner, Uwe Mamat, Jeroen Mesters, Holger Notbohm, Thomas Peters, Axel Scheidig, Jens-Michael Schröder, Andra Schromm, Ulrich Zähringer

Resources:

X-ray crystallography: 2 in-house X-ray generators with diffractometers, crystallization robots, crystal imaging systems, synchrotron beamline at DESY, Hamburg, sample preparation laboratory at DESY; NMR spectroscopy: 700 MHz, 600 MHz, 500 MHz spectrometers; mass spectrometry; small-angle X-ray scattering; scanning force microscopy; cryo electron microscopy

Important publications