Jena. On the recommendation of the Senate, the Joint Committee of the German Research Foundation (DFG) has decided to establish seven new research groups (DFG-FOR). These will receive a total of around 33 million euros in funding. The establishment of DFG research groups gives scientists the opportunity to address current and pressing issues in their fields. Funding can last up to eight years and is intended to provide targeted support for innovative team research.
The topics covered by the newly funded DFG-FORs are diverse, ranging from socio-ecological issues in cities and the neural basis of communication in vertebrates to the role of molecular chaperones in the regulation of misfolded proteins in cellular condensates.
The latter is an important topic, as proteins that cannot achieve their correct three-dimensional structure pose a significant threat to the health and survival of cells and organisms. Many age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) arise when misfolded proteins form aggregates or fibrils or accumulate in biomolecular condensates - membrane-less macromolecular structures within the cell. Molecular chaperones are known to play a central role in this process. These proteins support other proteins in their folding, transport, and stability. However, the underlying processes are still largely unclear.
This is exactly where the new research group “Chaperone-mediated regulation of disease-causing amyloid protein conformations in biomolecular condensates” (DFG-FOR 5872) comes in. The aim is to investigate the role of molecular chaperones in the regulation of misfolded, disease-relevant proteins in biomolecular condensates and to clarify how chaperones influence the folding and aggregation of these proteins. The Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) in Jena, with Prof. Dr. Janine Kirstein, group leader at the FLI and professor of biochemistry of aging at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, will be responsible for the central coordination of the DFG research group.
"I am extremely pleased about the DFG's funding commitment. Together with an excellent team of scientists from Germany and Israel, we intend to spend the next few years investigating the central question of how chaperones regulate disease-causing protein conformations in cellular condensates - a process that is still poorly understood but is important and directly linked to age-related neurodegenerative diseases," reports Prof. Kirstein.
"I congratulate Prof. Kirstein, and all colleagues involved on the successful establishment of this DFG research group. It is of great scientific relevance that the FLI will coordinate an initiative aimed at uncovering how molecular chaperones regulate protein conformations in cellular condensates - a fundamental and still poorly understood mechanism. Advancing our understanding in this area may shed light not only on neurodegenerative diseases but more broadly on age-related cellular dysfunctions," emphasizes the Scientific Director of the FLI, Prof. Dario Riccardo Valenzano.
FOR5872 - Chaperone-mediated regulation of the emergence of disease-causing amyloids inside biomolecular condensates
Speaker: Janine Kirstein / Co-Speaker: Simon Alberti
Project leaders:
- Simon Alberti, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Simon Ebbinghaus, RU Bochum, Bochum, Germany
- Mark Hipp, University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
- Janine Kirstein, FLI, Jena, Germany
- Fan Liu, FMP & Charite, Berlin, Germany
- Julia Mahamid, EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany
- Rina Rosenzweig, Weidmann Institute, Rechovot, Israel
- Christoph Weber, University Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany
- Susanne Wegmann, DZNE, Berlin, Germany
- Markus Zweckstetter, DZNE, Göttingen, Germany
Contact
Dr. Kerstin Wagner
Press & Public Relations
Phone: 03641-656378, Email: presse@~@leibniz-fli.de
