Symposium on Infection Biology and Structural Microbiology in Kiel
On Thursday, April 20, about 80 researchers attended the "Meeting of North German Universities on Structural Bacteriology" at the event center "Seeburg" on the Kiel Fjord. The conference was organized by scientists from Kiel and Hamburg. Among the organizers was Dr. Daniel Unterweger, Prof. Dr. Holger Sondermann, Prof. Dr. Meytal Landau, Prof. Dr. Thomas Marlovits, Prof. Dr. Aymelt Itzen und Prof. Dr. Martin Aepfelbacher. Institutes involved included the Experimental Medicine at Kiel University (CAU) and University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), Kiel Campus, as well as the Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) in Hamburg, the University of Hamburg, the Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön, and the Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center. The meeting was funded by the "Verbund Norddeutscher Universitäten ".
"Our previous meeting last year at the CSSB in Hamburg showed that there are numerous researchers in the field of bacterial infection biology with different foci in the Nordic region, especially in Kiel and Hamburg. We want to pool this enormous expertise and develop it into a research network," says Unterweger. In his welcoming address, CAU Vice President Professor Eckhard Quandt emphasized, "In the face of limited resources and increasingly complex challenges, it is crucial to pool knowledge and competencies, not only to enhance our competitiveness but also to tackle research questions that can only be addressed meaningfully in a collaborative network."
Resolve structure and mechanisms of bacterial proteins
The conference will focus in particular on bacterial proteins and their structures. To resolve protein structures is important, for example, to combat antibiotic resistance or to find new compounds against bacterial infections. "In order to understand what bacteria do, how they cause infection, or how they interact with host cells or with each other, it is important to decipher the structure, interactions and functions of bacterial proteins. The interest in proteins in bacteria brings us together," explains Unterweger, who talked in his presentation about the type VI secretion system, a molecular mechanism in the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
The internationally renowned molecular microbiologist, Professor Tracy Palmer from Newcastle University, England, was invited as a guest speaker at the meeting in Kiel. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal Society of Biology and the American Academy of Microbiology, and a member of the European Academy of Microbiology and the European Molecular Biology Organisation. She gave a presentation on a special type of protein transporter, called the type VII secretion system, of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, an important human pathogen.
Contact:
Dr. Ronja Markworth
Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB)
c/o DESY, Building 15
Notkestr. 85
22607 Hamburg
Germany
phone: +49-(0)40-8998-87676
email: ronja.markworth@cssb-hamburg.de
