Charlotte Uetrecht is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Lübeck
Prof. Dr. Charlotte Uetrecht has been Professor of Chemistry at the University of Lübeck since the summer semester 2024. She also has an assoication with Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY and the Leibniz Institute of Virology (LIV). Uetrecht’s research group studies the dynamics of viral stuctures and is situated at the CSSB Centre for Structural Systems Biology, a collaboration of nine partner instiutions, on the science campus Hamburg-Bahrenfeld. In addition to being the Deputy Director of CSSB, Prof. Uetrecht heads the Institute of Chemistry and Metabolomics together with Prof. Dr. Ulrich Günther.
Uetrecht responsiblities at the University of Lübeck include teaching biological chemistry for bachelor MLS as well as teaching classes for several master programs. In particular, she wants to convey the benefits of integrative approaches to students, “as one method cannot answer all questions,” she says. She also wants to raise awareness of the fact “that structures from crystallography or cryogenic electron microscopy only represent models and often do not depict the dynamics well.” Mass spectrometry, for example, can help here.
Fascination for the simplicity of viruses and the precision of mass spectrometry
Uetrecht’s group focuses on understanding both the assembly of norovirus particles and replication complexes of coronaviruses. Uetrecht explores the dynamic molecular machinery involved in the viral lifecycle and is interested in capturing short-lived or transient states therein that cannot be purified.
To capture these transient states, the group uses state-of-the-art structural mass spectrometry (MS), an analytical technique that measures the mass -to-charge ratio of ions, and is able to identify how individual proteins shuttle between larger molecular structures. “I have always been intrigued by the simplicity of viruses and the huge impact they can have on an organism as well as the precision mass spectrometry offers - these go well together,” notes Uetecht.
Uetrecht is also involved in the development of MS techniques to improve structural resolution and to enable single molecule imaging. The MS sample purification techniques being developed by Uetrecht’s group will enable researchers to identify and subject transient states selected based on their mass or shape to X-ray diffraction. Uetrecht will use this method herself to understand how the viral capsid structure is altered and determined throughout the norovirus lifecycle.
About Charlotte Uetrecht
Charlotte Uetrecht was born in Ostercappeln in 1982. She studied Biochemistry at the University of Potsdam. After completing her doctorate in Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, Prof. Uetrecht went on to Uppsala University in Sweden and then joined the European XFEL in Germany. She then spent several years as a junior group leader at the LIV. In 2021, Uetrecht became a group leader at CSSB with a joint appointment from the University of Siegen, DESY and LIV, as W2 professor of Biochemistry and in 2024 was appointed full professor at the Univeristy of Lübeck.
In 2022, Uetrecht received the Mattauch-Herzog Award for her development of mass spectrometry methods and technologies. The award is presented by the German Mass Spectrometry Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Massenspektrometrie, DGMS) and considered one of the most prestigious scientific awards in analytical science.
Since 2023, the Uetrecht group coordinates the doctoral network “SPIDoc’s – The next generation MS SPIDoc’s”, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, integrating 10 PhD projects aiming at a deeper knowledge of the dynamic nature of viral structures at different scales, spanning from protein complexes composition and shape to electronic structure of sub-structures.
German News Story:
Universität zu Lübeck
