Public Guest Talk: Prof. Dr. Karin Hauser, University of Konstanz
The RTG welcomes Karin Hauser as a guest speaker on Tuesday, 3rd of July 2018.
Titel: “Protein-membrane interaction studied with time-resolved IR-spectroscopy“
Infrared (IR)-spectroscopy is a powerful technique to analyze dynamic interactions of proteins with biomembranes. We develop time-resolved methods to simultaneously monitor vibrational modes of the protein and the lipids. In my talk I will give two examples from our research projects to demonstrate the high sensitivity of the used approaches. One example will focus on the intrinsically disordered protein a-synuclein (aS), a known pathogenic factor for Parkinson’s disease, which can adopt defined secondary structures when interacting with membranes or during fibrillation. The aS–lipid interaction and the implications of this process for protein aggregation and membrane damage are still poorly understood. A comparative study of wild-type aS and the naturally occurring splicing variant aS Dexon3 yielded new insights into the membrane’s capability for altering aggregation pathways. In the second example I will present our studies on photoreceptors and the influence of the membrane environment on the photocycle. The photoreceptors were reconstituted into liposomes thereby providing an uniform biomimetic membrane, and the physical properties of the lipids were systematically varied. We could dissect the effect of membrane composition on individual proton transfer steps in the photocycle and furthermore monitored the protein conformational changes. We observed an intriguing dependence of correlated proton and protein dynamics on the membrane fluidity.
Official announcement: RTG1962_Karin Hauser
Research profil of Prof. Dr. Karin Hauser, University of Konstanz [link]
Venue: Department Biology, Building B1, Floor 00, Seminar Room Cell Biology (00.581), Staudtstraße 5, 91058 Erlangen.
Time: 5.00 p.m. (s.t.) –> Drinks will be served, starting at 4.30 p.m.