ZMB Research Program Molecular and Chemical Cell Biology

ZMB Research Program
Molecular and Chemical Cell Biology

Molecular and Chemical Cell Biology

Molecular and chemical cell biology is an interdisciplinary research program connecting molecular cell biology and genetics with chemistry and structural biology.

Scientists of the participating disciplines collaborate to advance the understanding of basic molecular mechanisms of important biological processes.

The analysis of regulation and deregulation of key pathways is linking basic biology with pathophysiology. The groups engaged in this programme are distinguished by longstanding expertise in their fields and are applying state of the art molecular biological, chemical and biophysical tools in systems ranging from in vitro reconstitution, cell culture and tissue explants to whole organisms.

Current Selected Publications since 2025

    Journal articles

  • Haase, Max A. B.; Lazar-Stefanita, Luciana; Baudry, Lyam; Wudzinska, Aleksandra; Zhou, Xiaofan; Rokas, Antonis; Hittinger, Chris Todd; Pfander, Boris; Musacchio, Andrea; Boeke, Jef D.
    Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres
    In: Nature, 2026, in press
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Kremer, Nora; Mueller, Franziska; Nguyen, Hang; Schulz, Louisa; Popp, Tanja; Artes, Elena; Wolters, Julian; Renner, Michael; Vetter, Ingrid; Maffini, Stefano; Robles, Maria S.; Musacchio, Andrea; Bange, Tanja
    CUL4A-DDB1-DCAF10 is an N-recognin for N-terminally acetylated Src kinases
    In: Nature Communications, Vol. 17, 2026, Nr. 1, 132
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Zhang, Ruirui; Liu, Jie; Gasper, Raphael; Unger, Anke; Kaschani, Farnusch; Kaiser, Markus; Janning, Petra; Waldmann, Herbert
    Covalent modification of a glutamic acid inspired by HaloTag technology
    In: Nature Communications, Vol. 17, 2026, Nr. 1, 1257
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Walstein, Kai; Hill, Louisa; Vogt, Doro; Oberste-Lehn, Lina; Janning, Petra; Vetter, Ingrid R; Pan, Dongqing; Musacchio, Andrea
    M18BP1 valency and a distributed interaction footprint determine epigenetic centromere specification in humans
    In: The EMBO Journal, 2026, in press
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Esposito-Verza, Arianna; Conti, Duccio; Rodrigues Pedroso, Paulo D.; Oberste-Lehn, Lina; Koerner, Carolin; Wohlgemuth, Sabine; Mansurkhodzhaev, Artem; Vetter, Ingrid R.; Pesenti, Marion E.; Musacchio, Andrea
    Molecular requirements for PLK1 activation by T-loop phosphorylation
    In: The EMBO Journal, Vol. 45, 2026, Nr. 5, pp. 1496 – 1536
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Kracht, Matthias; Kröning, Alexander; van den Boom, Johannes; Gahlot, Pinki; Koska, Sandra; Kiss, Leo; Meyer, Hemmo
    The accessory adapters FAF1, FAF2, and UBXN7 accelerate proteasomal degradation by increasing prior p97-mediated substrate unfolding
    In: Science Advances, Vol. 12, 2026, Nr. 10, eaea7381
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Martinez-Rivas, Gemma; Ayala, Maria Victoria; Bender, Sebastien; Codo, Gilles Roussine; Swiderska, Weronika Karolina; Lampis, Alessio; Pedroza, Laura; Merdanovic, Melisa; Sicard, Pierre; Pinault, Emilie; Richard, Laurence; Lavatelli, Francesca; Giorgetti, Sofia; Canetti, Diana; Rinsant, Alexa; Kaaki, Sihem; Ory, Cécile; Oblet, Christelle; Pollet, Justine; Naser, Eyad; Carpinteiro, Alexander; Roussel, Muriel; Javaugue, Vincent; Jaccard, Arnaud; Bonaud, Amélie; Delpy, Laurent; Ehrmann, Michael; Bridoux, Frank; Sirac, Christophe
    A mouse model of cardiac immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis reveals insights into tissue accumulation and toxicity of amyloid fibrils
    In: Nature Communications, Vol. 16, 2025, Nr. 1, 2992
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Reinders, Maike; Kravic, Bojana; Gahlot, Pinki; Koska, Sandra; van den Boom, Johannes; Schulze, Nina; Levantovsky, Sophie; Kleine, Stefan; Kaiser, Markus; Kulathu, Yogesh; Behrends, Christian; Meyer, Hemmo
    ATXN3 regulates lysosome regeneration after damage by targeting K48-K63-branched ubiquitin chains
    In: The EMBO Journal, Vol. 44, 2025, Nr. 18, pp. 5086 – 5111
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Gollowitzer, André; Pein, Helmut; Rao, Zhigang; Waltl, Lorenz; Bereuter, Leonhard; Loeser, Konstantin; Meyer, Tobias; Jafari, Vajiheh; Witt, Finja; Winkler, René; Su, Fengting; Große, Silke; Thürmer, Maria; Grander, Julia; Hotze, Madlen; Harder, Sönke; Espada, Lilia; Magnutzki, Alexander; Gstir, Ronald; Weinigel, Christina; Rummler, Silke; Bonn, Günther; Pachmayr, Johanna; Ermolaeva, Maria; Harayama, Takeshi; Schlüter, Hartmut; Kosan, Christian; Heller, Regine; Thedieck, Kathrin; Schmitt, Michael; Shimizu, Takao; Popp, Jürgen; Shindou, Hideo; Kwiatkowski, Marcel; Koeberle, Andreas
    Attenuated growth factor signaling during cell death initiation sensitizes membranes towards peroxidation
    In: Nature Communications, Vol. 16, 2025, Nr. 1, 1774
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)
  • Sanguankiattichai, Nattapong; Chandrasekar, Balakumaran; Sheng, Yuewen; Hardenbrook, Nathan; Tabak, Werner W.A.; Drapal, Margit; Kaschani, Farnusch; Grünwald-Gruber, Clemens; Krahn, Daniel; Buscaill, Pierre; Yamamoto, Suzuka; Kato, Atsushi; Nash, Robert; Fleet, George; Strasser, Richard; Fraser, Paul D.; Kaiser, Markus; Zhang, Peijun; Preston, Gail M.; van der Hoorn, Renier A.L.
    Bacterial pathogen deploys the iminosugar glycosyrin to manipulate plant glycobiology
    In: Science, Vol. 388, 2025, Nr. 6744, pp. 297 – 303
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)
  • Wu, Tong; Dhaka, Kapil; Luo, Mengjia; Wang, Bingqing; Wang, Meng; Xi, Shibo; Zhang, Mingsheng; Huang, Fuqiang; Exner, Kai S.; Lum, Yanwei
    CCooperative Active Sites on Ag2Pt3TiS6 for Enhanced Low-Temperature Ammonia Fuel Cell Electrocatalysis
    In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 64, 2025, Nr. 6, e202418691 , in press
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Borsellini, Alessandro; Conti, Duccio; Cutts, Erin E.; Harris, Rebecca J.; Walstein, Kai; Graziadei, Andrea; Cecatiello, Valentina; Aarts, Tom F.; Xie, Ren; Mazouzi, Abdelghani; Sen, Sushweta; Hoencamp, Claire; Pleuger, Richard; Ghetti, Sabrina; Oberste-Lehn, Lina; Pan, Dongqing; Bange, Tanja; Haarhuis, Judith H.I.; Perrakis, Anastassis; Brummelkamp, Thijn R.; Rowland, Benjamin D.; Musacchio, Andrea; Vannini, Alessandro
    Condensin II activation by M18BP1
    In: Molecular Cell, Vol. 85, 2025, Nr. 14, pp. 2688 – 2700.e11
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Richter, Mathis; Diesterbeck, Eva; Pylaeva, Ekaterina; Labusek, Nicole; Köster, Christian; Nagel, Dennis; Karsch, Laura; Fischer, Alexa Josephine; Sous, Marah; Jung, Marcel; Chevre, Raphael; Hagemann, Nina; Andersson, Erik Axel; Ek, C. Joakim; Singh, Vikramjeet; Hermann, Dirk M.; Gunzer, Matthias; Jablonska, Jadwiga; Felderhoff-Müser, Ursula; Bendix, Ivo; Soehnlein, Oliver; Herz, Josephine
    Hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in neonatal mice sequentially recruits neutrophils with dichotomous phenotype and function
    In: Nature Communications, Vol. 16, 2025, Nr. 1, 9696
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Schmiedtchen, Marco; Maisuls, Iván; Siera, Hannah; Balszuweit, Jan; Wölper, Christoph; Giese, Michael R. A.; Haberhauer, Gebhard; Strassert, Cristian A.; Voskuhl, Jens
    In situ Cyclization of Aromatic Thioethers in Emissive Materials to Generate Phosphorescent Dibenzothiophenes
    In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 64, 2025, Nr. 2, e202414326
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Sethi, Suruchi; Ghetti, Sabrina; Cmentowski, Verena; Guerriere, Teresa Benedetta; Stege, Patricia; Piano, Valentina; Musacchio, Andrea
    Interplay of kinetochores and catalysts drives rapid assembly of the mitotic checkpoint complex
    In: Nature Communications, Vol. 16, 2025, Nr. 1, 4823
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Katz, Liora S.; Visser, Emira J.; Plitzko, Kathrin F.; Pennings, Marloes A. M.; Cossar, Peter J.; Tse, Isabelle L.; Kaiser, Markus; Brunsveld, Luc; Ottmann, Christian; Scott, Donald K.
    Molecular glues of the regulatory ChREBP/14-3-3 complex protect beta cells from glucolipotoxicity
    In: Nature Communications, Vol. 16, 2025, Nr. 1, 2110
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Ng’ang’a, Peter Njenga; Folz, Julian; Kucher, Svetlana; Roderer, Daniel; Xu, Ying; Sitsel, Oleg; Belyy, Alexander; Prumbaum, Daniel; Kühnemuth, Ralf; Assafa, Tufa E.; Dong, Min; Seidel, Claus A.M.; Bordignon, Enrica; Raunser, Stefan
    Multistate kinetics of the syringe-like injection mechanism of Tc toxins
    In: Science Advances, Vol. 11, 2025, Nr. 1, eadr2019
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Rodier, Clement; Estabrook, Ian D.; Chan, Eunice HoYee; Rice, Gavin; Loreau, Vincent; Raunser, Stefan; Görlich, Dirk; Friedrich, Benjamin M.; Schnorrer, Frank
    Muscle growth by sarcomere divisions
    In: Science Advances, Vol. 11, 2025, Nr. 28, eadw9445
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Usama, Muhammad; Razzaq, Samad; Hättig, Christof; Steinmann, Stephan N.; Exner, Kai S.
    Oxygen evolution reaction on IrO₂(110) is governed by Walden-type mechanisms
    In: Nature Communications, Vol. 16, 2025, Nr. 1, 6137
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Kim, Jinjong; Usama, Muhammad; Exner, Kai; Joo, Sang Hoon
    Renaissance of Chlorine Evolution Reaction : Emerging Theory and Catalytic Materials
    In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 64, 2025, Nr. 1, e202417293
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Führer, Siska; Gallant, Kai; Kaschani, Farnusch; Kaiser, Markus; Janning, Petra; Waldmann, Herbert; Gersch, Malte
    Small Molecule-Induced Alterations of Protein Polyubiquitination Revealed by Mass-Spectrometric Ubiquitome Analysis
    In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 64, 2025, Nr. 32, e202508916
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Sewald, Leonard; Tabak, Werner W. A.; Fehr, Lorenz; Zolg, Samuel; Najdzion, Maja; Verhoef, Carlo J. A.; Podlesainski, David; Geiss-Friedlander, Ruth; Lammens, Alfred; Kaschani, Farnusch; Hellerschmied, Doris; Huber, Robert; Kaiser, Markus
    Sulphostin-inspired N-phosphonopiperidones as selective covalent DPP8 and DPP9 inhibitors
    In: Nature Communications, Vol. 16, 2025, Nr. 1, 3208
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Kahlhofer, Jennifer; Marchet, Nikolas; Zubak, Kristian; Seifert, Brigitta; Hotze, Madlen; Egger-Hörschinger, Anna-Sophia; Kucej, Lucija; Manzl, Claudia; Weyer, Yannick; Weys, Sabine; Offterdinger, Martin; Herzog, Sebastian; Reiterer, Veronika; Volani, Chiara; Kwiatkowski, Marcel; Wortmann, Saskia B; Nemati, Siamak; Mayr, Johannes A; Zschocke, Johannes; Radlinger, Bernhard; Thedieck, Kathrin; Kremser, Leopold; Sarg, Bettina; Huber, Lukas A; Farhan, Hesso; de Araujo, Mariana E G; Kaser, Susanne; Scholl-Bürgi, Sabine; Karall, Daniela; Teis, David
    TXNIP mediates LAT1/SLC7A5 endocytosis to limit amino acid uptake in cells entering quiescence
    In: The EMBO Journal, Vol. 44, 2025, Nr. 23, pp. 7119 – 7153
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)
  • Cmentowski, Verena; Musacchio, Andrea
    The BUB1 and BUBR1 paralogs scaffold the kinetochore fibrous corona
    In: Science Advances, Vol. 11, 2025, Nr. 37, eady6890
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Dudziak, Alexander; Pleuger, Richard; Schmidt, Jasmin; Hamm, Frederik; Tendulkar, Sharvari Gurudatta; Jänen, Karolin; Vetter, Ingrid R; Singh, Sylvia; Fischböck, Josef; Herzog, Franz; Westermann, Stefan
    The Spc105/Kre28 complex promotes mitotic error correction by outer kinetochore recruitment of Ipl1/Sli15
    In: The EMBO Journal, Vol. 44, 2025, Nr. 12, pp. 3492 – 3520
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Spangenberg, Philippa; Bessler, Sebastian; Widera, Lars; Bottek, Jenny; Richter, Mathis; Thiebes, Stephanie; Siemes, Devon; Krauß, Sascha D.; Migas, Lukasz G.; Kasarla, Siva Swapna; Phapale, Prasad; Kleesiek, Jens; Führer, Dagmar; Möller, Lars; Heuer, Heike; Van de Plas, Raf; Gunzer, Matthias; Soehnlein, Oliver; Soltwisch, Jens; Shevchuk, Olga; Dreisewerd, Klaus; Engel, Daniel R.
    msiFlow : automated workflows for reproducible and scalable multimodal mass spectrometry imaging and microscopy data analysis
    In: Nature Communications, Vol. 16, 2025, Nr. 1, 1065
    DOI (Open Access)
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