At our institute we combine structural biology (mainly X-ray crystallography), biophysical approaches, and biochemistry with cell biology to allow for an integrated research approach.

Research topics focus on RNA-based gene regulation in eukaryotes (Niessing), structure-guided inhibitor design (Niessing), and various areas of biotechnology, including biomaterials for medical applications and recombinant biosurfactants for a growing bioeconomy (Rosenau). For more details, please visit the groups subpages under the INSTITUTE/RESEARCH pulldown menue.

 

 

 

News

Gaber, T.*, Monecke, T.*, Grabowski, J., Simon, B., Williams, T., Roman, V., Chao, J., Hennig, J., Ephrussi, A.^#, Niessing, D.^#, Heber, S.^# (2025). A direct interaction between the RNA-binding proteins Staufen and Tm1-I/C in the oskar mRNA transport complex. Cell Rep., 44(7):1-13, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115906

Niedner-Boblenz, A.*, Monecke, T.*, Hennig, J., Klostermann, M., Hofweber, M., Davydova, E., Gerber, A. P., Anosova, I., Mayer, W., Müller, M., Heym, R. G., Janowski, R., Paillart, J. C., Dormann, D., Zarnack, K., Sattler, M., Niessing, D. (2024). Intrinsically disordered RNA-binding motifs cooperate to catalyze RNA folding and drive phase separation. Nucleic Acids Res., 52(22):14205-14228, https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkae1107

Xing, H., Zhang, Y., Li, R., Ruzicka, H.M., Hain, C., Andersson, J., Bozdogan, A., Henkel, M., Knippschild, U., Hasler, R., Kleber, C., Knoll, W., Kissmann, A.K., Rosenau, F. (2024). A Blautia producta specific gFET-based aptasensor for quantitative monitoring of microbiome quality. Nanoscale Horiz. 2024 Oct 18. doi: 10.1039/d4nh00281d

Proske, M.*, Janowski, R.*, Bacher, S., Kang, H.-S., Monecke, T., Koehler, T., Hutten, S., Tretter, J., Crois, A., Molitor, L., Varela-Rial, A., Fino, R., Donati, E., de Fabritiis, G., Dormann, D., Sattler, M., & Niessing, D. (2024). PURA syndrome-causing mutations impair PUR-domain integrity and affect P-body association. eLife, 13. https://doi.org/10.7554/ELIFE.93561

Kissmann, A.K., Bolotnikov, G., Li, R., Müller, F., Xing, H., Krämer,·M., Gottschalk, K.-E., Andersson, J., Weil, T., Rosenau, F. (2024). IMPATIENT‑qPCR: monitoring SELEX success during in vitro aptamer evolution. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology  108:284. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-024-13085-7

Zhang, Y., Xing, H., Bolotnikov, G., Krämer, M., Bozdogan, A., Kissmann, A.K., Weil, T., Spellerberg, B., Stenger, S., Rosenau, F. (2024). Robust Fluorometric Aptamer Assay for Direct and Rapid Detection of Clinical Isolates of Candida spec. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25, 3444. doi: 10.3390/ijms25063444

Witzenberger, M., Burczyk, S., Settele, D., Mayer, W., Welp, L.M., Heiss, M., Wagner, M., Monecke, T., Janowski, R., Carell, T., Urlaub, H., Hauck, S.M., Voigt, A.^# and Niessing, D.^# (2023).
Human TRMT2A methylates tRNA and contributes to translation fidelity. Nucleic Acids Res., 51(16):8691-8710. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkad565

Molitor, L.*, Klostermann, M.*, Bacher, S., Merl-Pham, J., Spranger, N., Burczyk, S., Ketteler, C., Rusha, E., Tews, D., Pertek, A., Proske, M., Busch, A., Reschke, S., Feederle, R., Hauck, S. M., Blum, H., Drukker, M., Fischer-Posovszky, P., König, J., Zarnack, K.^#, & Niessing, D.^# (2023). Depletion of the RNA-binding protein PURA triggers changes in posttranscriptional gene regulation and loss of P-bodies. Nucleic Acids Res., 51(3), 1297–1316. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkac1237