From small molecules to complex organelles

Latest News

December 4, 2024 Seipin: Guardian of Lipid Balance The inner nuclear membrane, a hub of genome regulation and nuclear envelope organization, holds untapped mysteries in lipid metabolism. In a study published in Nature Communications, the Köhler lab (Max Perutz Labs) identified Seipin – a protein previously linked to a severe lipid storage disorder – as a key regulator of inner nuclear membrane lipid homeostasis and nuclear envelope integrity. Read more →
November 19, 2024 ASAP: More funding for Parkinson’s research for the Martens lab The Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s Initiative (ASAP) fosters collaborative research to accelerate Parkinson’s disease discoveries. Since 2020, the Martens lab (Max Perutz Labs) has been part of the ASAP-funded Team Hurley, also known as the ‘mito911’ team. ASAP has extended the mito911 team grant by two years. Read more →
November 14, 2024 Postdoc position in the Clausen lab (IMP) – Age-related protein disorders The Allen Frontiers Group funds a postdoctoral position in the Clausen lab at the IMP to study the impact of disease mutations on protein lifespan. Read more →

About the Program

Targeted Protein Degradation: From small molecules to complex organelles

Our Special Research Program is a collaborative research platform to unravel how proteins are targeted for degradation. We focus on the two major cellular proteolytic pathways, the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) and autophagy, and the crosstalk between them in the cytoplasm and in the nucleus. Furthermore, we investigate how small molecules can be used to chemically reprogram the degradation systems, enabling the targeted proteolysis of selected proteins in a spatially and temporally controlled manner …

Selected Publications

2024 Tau fibrils evade autophagy by excessive p62 coating and TAX1BP1 exclusion Science Advances Ferrari L, Bauer B, Qiu Y, Schuschnig M, Klotz S, Anrather D, Juretschke T, Beli P, Gelpi E, Martens S Go to publication →
2024 Large-scale chemoproteomics expedites ligand discovery and predicts ligand behavior in cells Science Offensperger F, Tin G, Duran-Frigola M, Hahn E, Dobner S, Ende CWA, Strohbach JW, Rukavina A, Brennsteiner V, Ogilvie K, Marella N, Kladnik K, Ciuffa R, Majmudar JD, Field SD, Bensimon A, Ferrari L, Ferrada E, Ng A, Zhang Z, Degliesposti G, Boeszoermenyi A, Martens S, Stanton R, Müller AC, Hannich JT, Hepworth D, Superti-Furga G, Kubicek S, Schenone M, Winter GE Go to publication →
2023 Structural basis of how the BIRC6/SMAC complex regulates apoptosis and autophagy Science Ehrmann JF, Grabarczyk DB, Heinke M, Deszcz L, Kurzbauer R, Hudecz O, Shulkina A, Gogova R, Meinhart A, Versteeg GA, Clausen T Go to publication →

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