Dr. Malte Gersch

Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Technische Universität Dortmund

Phone: +49 231 133 2943
Email

The Ubiquitin system controls the activities and amounts of a plethora of proteins within eukaryotic cells, and thereby regulates critical cell state transitions including those during the cell cycle, DNA damage repair, mitophagy and inflammation. The post-translational modification of substrate proteins with the small protein Ubiquitin is catalysed by E1, E2 and E3 enzymes. Their activity is counteracted by about 100 dedicated isopeptidases, termed deubiquitinases (DUBs). DUBs thus play important roles in determining the strength of Ubiquitin-dependent signalling processes, and as such their activity is tightly regulated. In addition to their catalytic activities, non-catalytic activities have been reported for several DUBs. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms and roles which DUBs play in many biological pathways are still poorly understood. This project will expand the available small molecule toolbox for DUBs which will allow to dissect their multifaceted roles in Ubiquitination-controlled cell state transitions in close collaboration with other projects within this CRC.