Max Perutz PhD fellowship for pioneering projects
The most ambitious and ground-breaking PhD projects at the Perutz are honored with the Max Perutz PhD Fellowship. Lucas Piëch (Leonard lab) and Clara Schimmer (Ellis lab) have been awarded this year’s fellowship. Lucas will investigate the regulatory mechanisms that control cellular and organismal growth, while Clara will study the cellular mechanics which enable cell competition in mouse epidermal development.
Damage control: Targeting mitochondria
Deficiency in mitophagy, a process by which damaged mitochondria are selectively degraded to maintain cellular health and homeostasis, is a hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s. The molecular mechanisms that govern the initiation of mitochondrial degradation and subsequent autophagosome biogenesis, however, are not well understood. In their new publication in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, first author Elias Adriaenssens, a post-doctoral researcher in the Martens lab, shows that the TBK1 kinase adaptors NAP1 and SINTBAD play crucial roles during mitochondrial degradation by controlling pathway initiation and driving its efficient progression.
You shall not pass
Communication between organelles and the nucleus is crucial for cellular processes, yet it remains almost entirely enigmatic. In a new study published in EMBO Reports, Shotaro Otsuka and his PhD student Helena Bragulat-Teixidor, Max Perutz PhD Fellowship awardee 2021, reveal the morphology of junctions between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the nucleus. These junctions have a distinctive hourglass shape, which differentiates them from junctions within the ER, implying a putative gatekeeper function between the ER and the nucleus.
Survival of the filamentous
Organisms often have to ensure their survival during periods of unfavorable environmental conditions. Through the process of meiosis, budding yeast cells haploidize their genome and package it into environmentally resistant spores. In their publication in Cell, Joao Matos and his team discovered that metabolic enzymes essential for the recovery from spore dormancy form protein filaments during meiosis. In collaboration with the Pilhofer lab at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zurich, Matos and his team developed a novel workflow that combines the preparation of cell spreads with multimodal imaging that enabled the study of these filaments with unprecedented detail. The work implicates a previously unanticipated organization of proteins in the cell that permits long periods of dormancy.
All eyes on the proteome
Sexual reproduction involves the formation of gametes, specialized male and female reproductive cells. Gamete formation involves a process called meiosis where DNA is segregated into daughter cells, each containing half the genomic content of the adult cells. In their study published in Developmental Cell, Joao Matos and his collaborators characterized the composition and phosphorylation status of the proteome during meiosis, using budding yeast as a model system. They found that sequential waves of protein expression and phosphorylation rewire the proteome to enable gametogenesis. They also discovered that mitochondrial enzymes, such as ATP synthase and Aldehyde dehydrogenase, are regulated by phosphorylation during gametogenesis.
Unrecyclable: how protein aggregates evade clearance
Protein aggregates are a common hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases. These aggregates accumulate despite dedicated cellular surveillance mechanisms to prevent the build-up of unfolded or damaged cellular components. In a study published in Science Advances, Luca Ferrari, a postdoctoral researcher in the Martens group, compared how monomeric and pathological Tau proteins are targeted by this surveillance machinery. The team found that while Tau monomers are degraded normally, Tau fibrils, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s Disease, evade clearance by preventing the binding of a crucial mediator, TAX1BP1, which helps to recruit the autophagy machinery.
New principal investigator projects funded by FWF
Verena Jantsch-Plunger and Javier Martinez, group leaders at the Perutz, have received new funding from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). In their respective Principal Investigator Projects, the Jantsch lab aims to unravel the role of Dbf4-dependent kinase (DDK) in meiosis while the Martinez lab examines Ashwin – one of five subunits of the tRNA ligase complex. Each project has been funded with approximately €500,000.
Nature’s 3D printer: Bristle edition
A new interdisciplinary study published in Nature Communications by the Raible group reveals new insights into the eponymous bristles of the bristle worm Platynereis dumerilii. With its material jetting principle, bristle building resembles the way a 3D printer works. Specialized cells called chaetoblasts control the synthesis of nascent bristles by regulating the deposition of chitin, a stiff polymer essential for bristle biogenesis. The project is a collaboration with researchers from the University of Helsinki, the Technical University of Vienna, and the Masaryk University of Brno.
Max Perutz Labs mourn the loss of an honored faculty member
The Max Perutz Labs grieve the loss of Hans Tuppy, an honorary faculty member who passed away on April 24, 2024 in Vienna at the age of 99, shortly before his 100th birthday. With Hans Tuppy's departure, we bid farewell to an esteemed figure in the field of biochemistry, a dedicated teacher, and a visionary advocate for science.
Time is of the essence
Interferons are crucial signaling molecules employed by the innate immune system in response to infection. Although different interferons give rise to immunologically distinct effects, from antiviral to macrophage-activating functions, the early transcriptional response of cells exhibits remarkable similarity. In work recently published in EMBO Journal, the Decker group and their collaborators from the Medical University of Vienna and the Veterinary Medical University of Vienna have discovered that differences in the biological outcome are rooted in the lifetime of a critical transcription factor, IRF1.
Revving up the engine: Immunity on standby
When pathogens invade the body, the immune system must react immediately to prevent or contain an infection. But how do our defense cells stay ready when no attacker is in sight? A team of research groups in Vienna, the lab of Perutz group leader Thomas Decker and scientists from the Research Center of Molecular Medicine (CeMM), the Medical University of Vienna, and the Veterinary Medical University of Vienna, have found a surprising explanation: immune cells are constantly stimulated by healthy tissue, which primes them to mount a rapid response in the event of infection. The work implies that maintaining a basal level of vigilance is crucial to an effective immune response. Medications that selectively enhance our immune system’s vigilance could therefore be valuable in the future. The study has been published in the journal Nature Immunology.
HFSP grant for consortium led by Kristin Tessmar-Raible
The Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) has awarded Perutz group leader Kristin Tessmar-Raible, together with researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of California, and the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea, a research grant of €1.35 million over the next three years. Within the collaborative project, Kristin will lead a team aiming to unravel the influence of temporally ordered biological processes on the adaptability and survival of organisms near the chemical and physical limits of life.
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