Research Group: Protein Biochemistry

The fundamental questions in the study of enzymes, the bio-catalysts of all living organisms, revolve around their ability to select a substrate (substrate specificity) and subject this substrate to a predetermined chemical reaction (reaction and regio-specificity). In general, only a few amino acid residues in the "active site" of an enzyme are involved in this process and hence provide the key to the processes taking place during enzyme catalysis. Therefore, the focus of our research is to achieve a deeper understanding of the functional role of amino acids in the active site of enzymes with regard to substrate recognition and stereo- and regiospecificity of the chemical transformation. In addition, we are also interested in substrate-triggered conformational changes and how enzymes utilize cofactors (flavin, nicotinamide) to achieve catalysis. Towards these aims we employ a multidisciplinary approach encompassing kinetic, thermodynamic, spectroscopic and structural techniques. In addition, we use site-directed mutagenesis to generate enzyme variants to probe their functional role in the mentioned processes. Furthermore, we collaborate with our partners in academia and industry to develop inhibitors for enzymes, which can yield important new insights into enzyme mechanisms and can be useful as potential lead compounds in the design of new drugs.

The methods established in our laboratory comprise kinetic (stopped-flow and rapid quench analysis of enzymatic reactions), thermodynamic (isothermal titration microcalorimetry) and spectroscopic (fluorescence, circular dichroism and UV-vis absorption) methods. In addition, we use MALDI-TOF and ESI mass spectrometry, X-ray crystallography, protein purification techniques (chromatography and electrophoresis) and modern molecular biology methods to clone and express genes of interest. A brief description of our current research projects is given below.