CSSB: Newsletter 22

Two CSSB PhD Students Receive Thesis Prize

Congratulations to Dr. Enrico Caragliano from the Bosse group and Dr. Janine-Denise Kopicki from the Uetrecht group who both received an award for having one of the best theses of 2023-2024 in the Department of Chemistry at the Universität Hamburg. The prizes were given by the department's Friends and Sponsors Association "Freundes - und Förderverein Chemie der Universität Hamburg e.V."

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Congratulations! CSSB Scientist Receives DGHM Advancement Award 2024

Prof. Caroline Barisch from CSSB and the Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center, had the honour of receiving the DGHM Advancement Award, endowed with 3,500 euro, for her research on the molecular mechanisms by which pathogenic mycobacteria manipulate the lipid metabolism and lipid transport pathways of their host to ensure their intracellular survival.

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Joint exchange between CSSB and Universität zu Lübeck

On June 29, the Board of Directors of the Centre for Structural Systems Biology in Hamburg visited the Universität zu Lübeck. Scientific Director Prof. Dr Holger Sondermann and Deputy Director Prof. Dr Kay Grünewald exchanged views with the Executive Board and representatives of the Medical and Natural Sciences Sections on existing collaborations and other new scientific links between the two institutions in the fields of structural biology and infection and inflammation research.

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Science City Day at CSSB

On 1 June 2024, CSSB was part of Hamburg's Science City Day. Over 70 CSSB volunteers shared our research by running activities for the general public. Visitors made lava lamps, built microscopes, ate liquid nitrogen ice cream, experimented with chromatograms and took photos dressed as protein structures.

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CSSB Scientists involved in newly funded collaborative research centre

CSSB scientist Maya Topf and CSSB Associate Member Chris Meier are the co-spokespersons for a newly funded Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) "Emerging Viruses: Pathogenesis, Structure, Immunity", which focuses on the precise understanding of viruses, infection processes and immune reactions at the molecular level. Marylyn Addo (UKE) is the spokesperson of the CRC, which is based in the Faculty of Medicine of the Universität Hamburg and the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and is expected to receive a total of 10.8 million euro from the DFG over the next four years. CSSB scientists Kay Grünewald, Jens Bosse and Charlotte Uetrecht, and CSSB associated member Maria Rosenthal are also involved.

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An Interview with CSSB's newest group leader Caroline Barisch

Prof. Dr. Caroline Barisch joined CSSB in July 2023 with an appointment from the Research Center Borstel. She is also associated with the Universität Hamburg. Her group "Host-Microbe Interactome" focuses on the use of fluorescent and bifunctional lipids to study the effects of inhibiting host-specific lipid pathways during various stages of mycobacterial infections.

In an interview, Caroline answered questions about her start at CSSB, her plans for 2024 and also gave some great advice about mentorship.

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CSSB Seminars

Upcoming CSSB Seminars:
September 26: Lindsay Baker, University of Oxford
October 17: Konstantinos Thalassinos, UCL
November 28: Thomas Bowden, University of Oxford
December 5: Rachel Edgar, Imperial College London

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SAVE THE DATE: 7-8 May, 2025 CSSB Symposium

CSSB's 4th International Symposium "Mechanisms of Infection: from structure to translation" will take place from 7-8 May, 2025.

Confirmed Speakers:
Marylyn Addo, Hamburg, Germany
Madeleine Bunders, Hamburg, Germany
Alan Cowman, Parkville, Australia
Emily R. Derbyshire, Durham, USA
Ilaria Ferlenghi, Florence, Italy
Michael Filarsky, Tübingen, Germany
Syma Khalid, Oxford, UK
John Overington, Oxford, UK
Ben tenOever, New York City, USA
Sriram Subramaniam, Vancouver, Canada

Key Mechanism of Herpesvirus Egress Uncovered

The images of molecular complexes generated by electron cryo-microscopy are often a bit blurry and of low resolution. This makes the process of generating An international team of researchers, including CSSB's Grünewald group, Bosse group and the cryo-EM multi-user facility, has uncovered crucial details on how herpesviruses exit the cell nucleus without compromising the integrity of the nuclear envelope. The study, published in the renowned journal Nature Microbiology, utilized advanced electron cryo-tomography to visualize the structures involved. These findings could pave the way for developing more effective antiviral therapies to combat herpesvirus infections.

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Caught Red-Handed

Viruses use the molecular infrastructure of infected host cells for their reproduction. While the viral polymerase replicates the genetic information of the virus, the host ribosome is needed to produce the viral proteins. However, the process by which a ribosome converts RNA into a protein - called translation - is tightly controlled and requires a so-called 5'RNA cap. Phenuiviruses cannot produce these RNA caps themselves, but steal them from their host. But how does this work? Researchers at the Centre for Structural Systems Biology, the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine and their collaborators have used cryo-electron microscopy to study and visualise different stages of this process on a molecular level. The results were published in the scientific journal Nucleic Acids Research.

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Structure and function of new lysosome transporter revealed

The groups of Christian Löw, Markus Damme and Bruno Gasnier worked together to reveal the structure and function of a previously unknown lysosome transporter. Their findings have recently been published in Nature Cell Biology.

The insights gained by the researchers indicate that MFSD1 provides an alternative route to supply amino acids for biosynthetic pathways when other lysosomal amino acid exporters are overloaded. "This was an amazing collaborative effort which combined labs with different expertise that were driven by the need to answer biological questions," notes Löw.

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Breakthrough in understanding the Herpes simplex virus 1

The groups of CSSB Associate Member Martin Hällberg and CSSB group leader Kay Grünewald have made a breakthrough in understanding the molecular mechanics of the Herpes simplex virus 1 DNA polymerase, shedding light on the enzyme's complex structural changes during DNA synthesis and proofreading. This comprehensive study employed advanced electron cryo-microscopy to capture high-resolution images of the HSV-1 UL30 DNA polymerase in three distinct functional states. These states are pivotal for the enzyme's activity and were examined to elucidate their roles in the viral replication process.

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