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Lipids are essential building blocks of cells and powerful signaling molecules, yet we still have much to learn about how their diversity is controlled and interpreted. How do cells establish and maintain lipid homeostasis? How does lipid composition shape cellular function, and how are changes in lipids translated into signals? We aim to uncover the fundamental principles that govern lipid organization, signaling and function in cells.
We use lipid chemical biology to understand how the composition, organization and dynamics of lipids shape cellular function. We develop and apply chemical tools to manipulate, visualize and study individual lipid species with high spatial and temporal precision. By combining synthetic chemistry with cell biology and advanced imaging, we connect lipid chemistry to molecular interactions, signaling pathways and cellular processes.
Milena studied Chemistry at the Universities of Heidelberg and Auckland. In 2015, she joined André Nadler’s lab at MPI-CBG, Dresden, developing lipid probes to study lipid kinetics. Since 2021, she has led an independent lab at EPFL, studying lipid signaling and developing probes to track lipid delivery, localization and metabolism. In 2027, she joins the Max Perutz Labs as a group leader.
Machine Learning-Assisted Quantification of Organelle Abundance
Long AJ, Candeias D, Coveña NF, Reymond L, Schuhmacher M, Kemp S, Hamilton N, Amen T.
Peroxisome Staining in Mammalian Cells Using Peroxisome-Specific Probes
Howman C, Cohen T, Shlomy MY, van Aerle MS, Carmichael RE, Schuhmacher M, Reymond L, Zalckvar E, Kaganovich D, Amen T.
Quantitative imaging of lipid transport in mammalian cells
Iglesias-Artola JM, Böhlig K, Schuhmann K, Cook KC, Lennartz HM, Schuhmacher M, Barahtjan P, Jiménez López C, Šachl R, Garikapati V, Pombo-Garcia K, Lohmann A, Riegerová P, Hof M, Drobot B, Shevchenko A, Honigmann A, Nadler A.
Fluorescent fatty acid conjugates for live cell imaging of peroxisomes
Korotkova D, Borisyuk A, Guihur A, Bardyn M, Kuttler F, Reymond L, Schuhmacher M, Amen T.
Quantifying single-cell diacylglycerol signaling kinetics after uncaging
Gonzales DT, Schuhmacher M, Lennartz HM, Iglesias-Artola JM, Kuhn SM, Barahtjan P, Zechner C, Nadler A.
Live-cell lipid biochemistry reveals a role of diacylglycerol side-chain composition for cellular lipid dynamics and protein affinities
Schuhmacher M, Grasskamp AT, Barahtjan P, Wagner N, Lombardot B, Schuhmacher JS, Sala P, Lohmann A, Henry I, Shevchenko A, Coskun Ü, Walter AM, Nadler A.
A Coumarin Triflate Reagent Enables One-Step Synthesis of Photo-Caged Lipid Metabolites for Studying Cell Signaling
Wagner N, Schuhmacher M, Lohmann A, Nadler A.
Quantifying single-cell diacylglycerol signaling kinetics after uncaging
Wagner, N., Stephan, M., Höglinger, D., & Nadler, A.
MinD-like ATPase FlhG effects location and number of bacterial flagella during C-ring assembly
Schuhmacher JS, Rossmann F, Dempwolff F, Knauer C, Altegoer F, Steinchen W, Dörrich AK, Klingl A, Stephan M, Linne U, Thormann KM, Bange G.
Project title: “Organelle-Specific Diacylglycerol Signaling as a Driver and Therapeutic Target of Insulin Resistance”
with Francesca Amati (UNIL, Switzerland) and Bryan Bergman (University of Colorado, USA)
2027-2031
Project title: “LipID: Subcellular Lipid Atlas: Decoding Organelle Identity with Targeted Lipid Profiling”
2027-2031
Project title: “Structural determinants of lipid signaling”
2024-2025
Project title: “Tracking the secrets of diacylglycerol transport and metabolism in the cell” (IC00I0-227891)
2024-2027
Since 2024
Projet collaboratif (médecine de précision)
Since 2023