German Research Foundation to Establish New Collaborative Research Center at Freie Universität Berlin

Scientists to Investigate the Controlled Assembly of Protein Scaffolds in Membranes

№ 175/2011 from Jun 09, 2011

Freie Universität Berlin has been granted funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) for a new Collaborative Research Center (CRC). As of July 1, for an initial four years, researchers involved in CRC 958 will investigate the spatially and temporally controlled assembly of protein scaffolds in membranes central to various cell processes. CRC 958 "Scaffolding of Membranes: Molecular Mechanisms and Cellular Functions" aims to discover how protein complexes scaffold membranes and control cellular functions such as cell fusion, synaptic signal transmission, or differentiation. The coordinator and spokesperson for the new CRC is Professor Dr. Volker Haucke from the Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Freie Universität.

Generally valid principles of the organization and dynamics of membrane-associated protein scaffolds are to be prepared and long-term tools developed in order to manipulate their function. Participating institutions are the German Institute of Nutrition Research in Potsdam-Rehbrücke, the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin-Buch, and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the joint medical school of Freie Universität and Humboldt-Universität.

Further Information

  • Prof. Dr. Volker Haucke, Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Freie Universität Berlin Tel.: +49 (0)30 / 838-56922, Email: Volker.Haucke@fu-berlin.de
  • Dr. Henning Otto, Department of Physics, Freie Universität Berlin, CRC 958 Tel.: +49 (0)30 / 838-56930, Email: henning.otto@fu-berlin.de

Related Links