Projects

Background: Plants as sessile organisms cannot run when challenged by environmental stress, including temperature stress. Instead, they have developed a plethora of sophisticated physiological and molecular reactions to maintain homeostasis. […]

Pericentric heterochromatin in mouse and Drosophila assembles via heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) in a self-organizing manner into distinct nuclear subcompartments that are called chromocenters. During development chromocenters change their structure […]

Background: Subcellular organization via biomolecular condensation in prokaryotes has recently gained momentum with the demonstration that the fundamental process of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) transcription takes place within condensates, similar to […]

Background: Exhaustion of the replicative potential of human cells signals their commitment to an irreversible state of cell cycle arrest known as senescence. Entry into senescence, where cells remain metabolically […]

The formation of membrane-less cellular compartments by liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) relies on the unique physico-chemistry of molecules. These biomolecular condensates can separate and concentrate molecules within the cell, creating […]

The Alberti and Seidel teams will join forces to investigate the conformational dynamics of Fused in Sarcom (FUS) in vitro and in living cells using cutting-edge single molecule technology such […]

Recent studies have demonstrated that membrane-less condensates assemble by liquid-liquid phase separation of proteins that share multivalency, intrinsic disorder and low complexity sequences as common characteristics. The details of the […]

Phase separation is considered a crucial process in disease progression, since proteins involved in amyloid-associated pathologies, like FUS, play also a crucial role in phase separation. FUS contains, like other […]

Small RNA silencing serves to regulate genes but also as a defense against pathogens and selfish genetic elements. In insects, a specialization of small RNAs and their biogenesis factors for […]

In this project we aim to understand how tight junctions (TJ) assemble into a continuous sub-apical belt in epithelial cells. Based on cell biological and in vitro data we hypothesize […]

Processing-bodies (P-bodies) contain the machinery that is involved in 5ʼ to 3ʼ mRNA degradation. This includes the DEAD box RNA helicase Dhh1 as well as the mRNA decapping enzyme Dcp2, […]

The nuclear pore complex (NPC) is a ~120 MDa complex built from multiple copies of ~30 different nucleoporins (Nups). The NPC traverses the nuclear envelope and functions as “gatekeeper” for […]

The Mueller-Planitz lab studies the core components of chromatin – the nucleosomes and the machinery that places them in the genome. Nucleosomes are crucial to human health. Aging, for instance, […]

We develop microfluidic workflows to map enzymatic activity and compositional control of tumour suppressor SPOP with its substrates in liquid nuclear bodies. Various membraneless bodies that form through liquid phase […]

Mikael Simons +49 941-9437751 Institute of Neuronal Cell Biology (TUM-NCB)Technical University MunichGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE)Feodor-Lynen-Straße 1781377 Munich Office: +49 89 440046495 Lab: +49 89 440046479

The nuclear pore complex (NPC) is a ~120 MDa complex built from multiple copies of ~30 different nucleoporins (Nups). The NPC traverses the nuclear envelope and functions as “gatekeeper” for […]

Processing-bodies (P-bodies) contain the machinery that is involved in 5ʼ to 3ʼ mRNA degradation. This includes the DEAD box RNA helicase Dhh1 as well as the mRNA decapping enzyme Dcp2, […]

Actin is the most abundant protein in most eukaryotic cells and is well known for its capability to polymerize into dynamic filaments in the cytoplasm. Actin is now also recognized […]

Pericentric heterochromatin in mouse and Drosophila assembles via heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) in a self-organizing manner into distinct nuclear subcompartments that are called chromocenters. During development chromocenters change their structure […]

Stochasticity in transcription and translation causes substantial cell-to-cell variability in protein concentrations across isogenic cells. A key question in biology is how cells manage to function robustly while their inner […]