Prof. Dr Eric J. N. Helfrich
Group Leader
JQYA Member 2023, Emmy Noether Programme
Research area: Natural Product Genomics
Research focus: Development of machine learning-based genome mining algorithms for the targeted identification of non-canonical natural product biosynthetic pathways in bacterial genomes, and characterization of natural product pathways.
Dr. Elena Bykova
Group Leader
JQYA Member 2023, Emmy Noether Programme
Research area: High-pressure crystallography, chemistry and mineralogy
Research focus: Behaviour of matter at extreme conditions, such as high pressures and temperatures, e.g. chemical and structural transformations in materials related to deep interiors of Earth and extra-terrestrial rocky planets.
Dr. Anna Wanka
Group Leader
JQYA Member 2022, Emmy Noether Programme
Research area: Sociology of age and ageing
Research focus: Ageing and age constructions, social practices of un/doing age, life course transitions / retirement and the re/production of social inequalities across the life course, ageing in a digitized world as well as ageing and space.
Dr. Sofia Iris Bimpli
W1 Professor for Cardiovascular Surveillance at the Institute for Vascular Signalling and the Cardiopulmonary Institute
JQYA Member 2021, Emmy-Noether Programme
Research area: Metabolic surveillance of vascular homeostasis and aging
Research focus: Endothelial cells coat the inside of blood vessels and are directly exposed to the blood. These cells are, however, much more than a protective lining as they are metabolically active and contribute to the development and preservation of a healthy vasculature and thus are vital for organ maintenance in adulthood. Endothelial senescence is the dominant unmodifiable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and strategies to rejuvenate the endothelium remain far away from the clinic. Our team studies how metabolic intermediates can impact on cell signalling via the post-translational modification of proteins and epigenetic mechanisms to control endothelial cell senescence and reparative responses. The overall aim is to unravel novel metabolic based therapies for the preservation of endothelial cell function.
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Dr. Christian Münch
Group Leader
JQYA Member 2018, Emmy Noether Programme, ERC Starting Grant
Research area: Protein quality control
Research focus: Proper folding of proteins in cells is required for cellular function and survival. My laboratory studies how cells respond to protein misfolding as observed in diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration. We particularly focus on the specific stress responses induced to overcome protein misfolding in mitochondria.
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Dr. Cornelia Pokalyuk
JQYA Member 2020, Emmy Noether Programme
Research area: Stochastic dynamics of host parasite processes, population genetic processes with spatial structure and selection, coalescing and branching processes
Research focus: The evolution of parasites is strongly influenced by the parasites dependence on their hosts. For instance, the spread of the parasite population over the host population can imply a hierarchical structure of the parasite population and the spatial structure of the host population can carry over to the parasite population. In exchange with experimental groups we develop in my group individual-based models that represent host parasite dynamics and analyse these with the help of genealogical processes and a separation of scales in time and space.
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Dr. Andreas Schlundt
Group Leader
JQYA Member 2018, Emmy Noether Programme
Research area: Structural biology of mRNA-regulation
Research focus: The tight control of mRNA stability essentially contributes to gene product levels during devlopment and immune responses, where misbalance is a major cause of disease. In this context, we investigate the role of RNA-intrinsic elements that are recognized by regulatory proteins. We are using an integrated structural biology approach to obtain atomic pictures of these RNA-protein complexes and derive mechanistic details for cancer progression and autoimmunity.
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