Biochemistry II - Molecular Biochemistry

From August 5th to 7th we held our second BoCop Workshop, this year focusing on lipid transporter activity assays. Many thanks to all participants for their valuable insights and contributions! Special thanks to Prof. Rosa Lopez Marques and Richard Villagrana for travelling to Bochum and sharing their expertise with us.

This workshop was supported by the Ruhr University Research School, funded by Germany's Excellence Initiative (DFG GSC 98/3).

Nerve cells in the adult brain do not divide any more. When they die due to diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, they are lost. Researchers from Bochum have tried a new way to save them. In an animal model they were able to show that a mutated protein switch, which induces cell division and prevents cell death, can protect nerve cells. In other cells, the erroneous permanent activation of this switch causes cancer with its typical cell proliferation. From this the research team Dr. Sebastian Neumann, Dr. Konstantin Kuteykin-Teplyakov and Prof. Dr. Rolf Heumann has developed a new method for protecting nerve cells, which was published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences on March 6, 2024.

Press Release. Abstract. The complete article is openly accessible.

Lisa Bachmann defended her PhD thesis on 12 January 2024. Congratulations to Lisa from the Molecular Biochemistry team!

Deniz Uzun defended her PhD thesis on 8 December 2023. Congratulations to Deniz from the Molecular Biochemistry team!

Akriti Soni defended her PhD thesis entitled “Membrane proteins and their domains” on 25 September 2023. Congratulations to Akriti from the Molecular Biochemistry team!

Sarina Veit defended her PhD thesis entitled “Investigation of P4-ATPases in Cryptococcus neoformans: from heterologous expression to liposomal ensemble studies and single vesicle analysis” on 30 May 2023. Congratulations to Sarina from the Molecular Biochemistry team!

An illustration from Sarina's and Laura's protocols is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Bio-protocol.

This year we had the great pleasure of hosting the International Meeting of the GBM Study Group 2022: Molecular Neurobiology, which was supported by the RUB Research School and The (German) Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. We thank the organizing team led by Prof. Heumann for their efforts to make this conference a successful event.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of our biochemistry studies course we invite all graduates to a celebration on 01.10.2022. Please register via e-mail. The programme and the registration form an be found on the website of the faculty.

Laura Paweletz defended her PhD thesis entitled “A liposome-based approach for the study of P-type ATPases: towards single-vesicle analysis” on 30 June 2022. Congratulations to Laura from the Molecular Biochemistry team!

Heiko Michael Leßlich defended his PhD thesis entitled “Investigation of sodium current-dependent sodium potassium ATPase expression in plasma membranes of thyroid hormone-treated neural cultures from postnatal rat hippocampus” on 22 April 2022. Congratulations to Heiko from the Molecular Biochemistry team!