Our group investigates the molecular mechanisms how disordered proteins mediate signal transfer via an intricate network of protein interactions and post-translational modifications. We work at the interface of structural biology, biophysics, cell biology, and medicine to study the molecular mechanisms linking key regulatory processes involved in signaling and metabolism. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and biophysical methods are the primary tools employed in the laboratory to study the structural and dynamical properties of signaling proteins, metabolites and their interactions under native-like solution conditions. The efforts focus primarily on the highly conserved Wnt signaling pathway and intersected pathways, forkhead transcription factors, and the biogenesis of RNA-binding proteins. Distortions in these pathways lead to a plethora of diseases, including cancers, neurological and metabolic disorders, and are linked to aging. The group aims to reveal the molecular mechanisms underlying interactions of disordered proteins to provide insight into the intricate link between their function, regulation, and human diseases. We use NMR-based metabolic phenotyping to obtain systemic insight into the molecular outcome of distortions in signaling pathways in cell-based assays, in vivo model systems, and patients. This allows to bridge the gap between atom and patient and vice versa and to obtain new insights into disease mechanisms and diagnosis.

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