News from the Institute
IBC2 Director Ivan Đikić has been awarded a prestigious LOEWE-Spitzenprofessur at Goethe University Frankfurt. The Hessian LOEWE research program provides around € 3 M over five years and will support Ivan’s drug development projects, focusing on proximity induction as innovative mode-of-action. Throughout his career, Ivan dedicated his work to uncovering mechanisms that regulate cellular quality control. Early on, he pioneered the concept of ubiquitin as a versatile cellular signal. More recently, he focussed on reprogramming the body’s natural degradation pathways — such as the ubiquitin and autophagy systems — to target harmful proteins or organelles. This opens up new therapeutic options for a variety of diseases like cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and infections, including those that were previously considered untreatable.
... (read more)Acinetobacter baumannii is a bacterium resistant to antibiotics and known for causing severe infections, particularly in hospitals. In this study, we compared proteins in healthy human cells and cells infected by A. baumannii to understand how the bacteria cause disease. Our findings reveal that the transcriptional factor FOS becomes much more abundant in human cells during infection. Interestingly, when we used drugs to block FOS, the cytotoxic effects of the bacteria were significantly reduced.
... (read more)ENABLE and SFB 1177 are organizing the 4th Frankfurt Conference on Quality Control in Life Processes (FCQC) which will take place from March 24th – 27th 2025 at Campus Westend of Goethe University Frankfurt.
... (read more)Based on a previous screen in which key kinases of ER-phagy/reticulophagy regulation were identified, the team of IBC2 and BMLS group leader Alexandra Stolz now reveals further insight into the specific roles of two kinases: ATR and CSNK2 (also known as CK2), which both significantly impact ER-phagy flux and act downstream of autophagy master switch MTOR. ER-phagy, or the selective degradation of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), is vital for cellular homeostasis.
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