Putting a finger on meiosis
The proper processing of DNA lesions is critical to faithful chromosome segregation and genome integrity. As part of a larger complex of proteins, Topoisomerase 3 (TOP3) can decatenate joint DNA structures and reverse invading DNA strands during recombination in meiosis and mitosis. Besides a catalytic domain, TOP3 contains C-terminal zinc finger domains (ZnF) whose functions remain poorly understood. The lab of Verena Jantsch has now demonstrated that the deletion of this domain elicits a delay in the processing of recombination intermediates, which contrasts the penetrant embryonic death seen in the gene disruption allele. The study is published in Nucleic Acids Research.
Rendezvous at night – how moonlight fine-tunes animal reproduction
Animals possess circadian clocks, or 24 h oscillators, to regulate daily behavior. These typically take their cues from the periodic change of sunlight and darkness. However, many animals are also exposed to moonlight, which re-occurs with ~25h periodicity. The labs of Florian Raible at the Max Perutz Labs, a joint venture of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna, and Kristin Tessmar-Raible (Max Perutz Labs, Alfred Wegener Institute, University of Oldenburg) have now discovered that moonlight adjusts the daily clock of marine bristle worms, which helps them to fine-tune their reproductive cycle to certain hours during the night. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides an explanation for the phenomenon that daily clocks from flies to humans can exhibit plastic run-times.
Exhibition Opening
“Breathing at High Altitude” – an exhibition about the life and science of Max Perutz has opened its doors in the arcaded courtyard in the main building of the University of Vienna. The project was initiated by the Max Perutz Labs with the goal of sparking curiosity among the broader public about this pioneer of molecular biology. “Breathing at High Altitude” illustrates Max Perutz’ fascinating life, celebrates his love for mountains, and visualizes “breathing” in a unique way.
Alwin Köhler elected corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
Congratulations to Alwin Köhler, who has become a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW).
Kristina Djinović-Carugo leaves the Perutz to become Head of EMBL Grenoble
Congratulations to Kristina Djinović-Carugo, who has been appointed as the head of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Grenoble as of July 2022.
MSCA Postdoc Fellowship for Elias Adriaenssens
Congratulations to Elias Adriaenssens, who has been awarded a prestigious Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship. A biochemist by training, Elias will work in the lab of Sascha Martens to reconstitute mitophagy in vitro, with the aim of better understanding its involvement in Parkinson’s disease.
New lessons from an old master
3-phosphoinositide-dependent kinase 1 (PDK1) is an essential protein kinase that regulates signaling pathways involved in growth, survival, and proliferation. Often dubbed a ‘master kinase’, it controls the activity of up to 23 other downstream kinases. However, whether its own activity is regulated is controversial. The lab of Thomas Leonard has now elucidated the mechanism of activation of PDK1. Their findings, published in Nature Communications, show that signaling lipids relieve autoinhibition of PDK1, which permits its dimerization and activation on the membrane.
Supporting scientists from Ukraine
The Max Perutz Labs are actively seeking to support scientists from Ukraine at any career stage. Several of our research groups are able to host scientists in research areas ranging from mechanistic cell biology, RNA biology, cellular signal transduction, autophagy, structural biology to infection and immunity.
FWF Stand-Alone grants awarded to Max Perutz Labs scientists
The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) has awarded individual project grants to Manuela Baccarini, Martin Leeb, and Pavel Kovarik for a total funding of € 1.3 million. The scientists, who are all part of the SMICH doctoral program at the Max Perutz Labs, will lead exciting projects in cell signalling, immunity, and cell fate determination respectively.
Max Perutz PhD Fellowships awarded
The Max Perutz Labs recognize the most ambitious and innovative PhD projects at the institute with the Max Perutz PhD Fellowship. This year’s winners are Júlia Garcia Baucells (Dammermann Lab) and Paulina Kettel (Karagöz Lab). Their respective projects will investigate the material properties of centrosomes and the unfolded protein response.
Cell fate determination: making sense out of nonsense
Nonsense mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a cellular surveillance mechanism that detects and degrades potentially dangerous mRNA transcripts containing premature stop codons. Reporting in Genes & Development, the lab of Martin Leeb has discovered a role for NMD in controlling the transition of stem cells from naïve to formative pluripotency. The study is a collaboration with the groups of Stefan Ameres, Christa Bücker and Arndt von Haeseler at the Max Perutz Labs, as well as researchers from the University of Cologne, the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute and the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology.
Ignaz Lieben Prize awarded to Kristin Tessmar-Raible
Congratulations to group leader Kristin Tessmar-Raible who has received the oldest and highest award of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the Ignaz Lieben Prize. The prize recognizes Kristin’s work in the field of molecular chronobiology.
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