News from the Institute
This year’s Nobel Essay in Cell has been written by Ivan Dikic (IBC2) together with Sharon Tooze (Francis Crick Institute, London). Published on time for the Nobel Ceremony on 10th December, the article highlights milestones leading to the discovery of the molecular principles underlying autophagy by Yoshinori Ohsumi, who is this years’ winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology. Dikic and Tooze tell the story of a simple yet insightful yeast genetic screen that revealed what later was recognized to be one of the most powerful quality-control pathways in cells.
... (read more)
As the Hessian Ministry for Science and Arts (HMWK) announced today, the LOEWE program Ub-Net will be prolonged for another year. The initiative led by IBC2 Director Ivan Dikic receives 1,08 M € to continue deciphering the complexity of ubiquitin networks and analysing the underlying molecular mechanisms.
... (read more)
As the German Research Foundation (DFG) announced today, Goethe University (GU) is one of the winners of the 2016 Competition for International Research Marketing Ideas.
... (read more)
In the latest issue of Cell, a team around IBC2 director Ivan Dikic reveals molecular details of a novel ubiquitination mechanism that may affect numerous life processes.
Earlier this year, U.S. colleagues reported that Legionella enzyme SdeA is capable of catalysing ubiquitination single-handedly. Now, the Frankfurt scientists together with collaborators from the MPI for Biology of Ageing (Cologne) have elucidated the chemistry behind and discovered a hitherto unknown type of linkage between ubiquitin and target proteins.
... (read more)
Genomic instability is a hallmark of cancer and aging. Scientists at Goethe University Frankfurt now discovered the molecular cause for genetic instability in patients suffering from a rare segmental progeroid syndrome named Ruijs-Aalfs syndrome. The syndrome leads to premature aging and early onset liver cancer.
“Until now, it was unclear how these patients, carrying mutations in the metalloprotease SPRTN, succumb to the disease”, comments Ivan Dikic, director of the Institute of Biochemistry II.