2019

• Gregorz Popowicz and Krzysztof Zak won M4 Award. Together with Hannelore Meyer, Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene at Technische Universität München, Popowicz and Zak have developed small molecules that block antibiotic resistance mechanisms. press release




• A team of scientists around Michael Sattler decode the mechanism of new small molecule inhibitors for the treatment of depression, pain and obesity. press release




• For his contribution to the research of the so-called PURA syndrome, Dierk Niessing was awarded the Care-for-Rare Science Award about 50.000,-€ by the Werner Reichenberger Stiftung and the care-for-rare foundation. The price is shared with Tobias Hirsch from Münster University Hospital. press release

2018

• Scientists of STB raised BMBF VIP+ funding in the amount of 1,5 Mio Euro for the development of a drug against troposomal diseases. Trypanosomiases like Chagas disease can not be cured yet. Gregorz Popowicz and Michael Sattler - in collaboration with scientists at the University of Bochum - have developed compounds that inhibit glycosomal transport in the parasites and thus kill them. Within the VIP + project PexMed, these lead structures are to be further developed up to the preclinical phase and so open the way to a potent drug.




• An international research team led by Michael Sattler has used an integrated structural biological approach to elucidate the maturation of a cancer-causing microRNA in gene regulation. In the future, the authors hope to develop new therapies based on the findings presented in ‘Nature Communications’. press release




• Michael Sattler has been elected as a member of the Leopoldina, the German National Academy of Sciences, for his accomplishments in the field of structural biology. The director of the Institute of Structural Biology at the Helmholtz Zentrum München bolsters the Biochemistry and Biophysics section. The award ceremony took place on May 23 over the course of the annual assembly of the Leopoldina in Halle. press release




• One of six new Collaborative Research Centres (CRCs) was granted to Michael Sattler. The new CRC deals with Chemical Biology of Epigenetic Modifications.  Specifically, it is about small chemical changes in the genome, which can lead to extensive control processes in the cell. Despite their importance, it is relatively unclear what changes there are, how they come about and how they work. press release




• On April 26 and 27, the International Helmholtz Drug Discovery Conference HDDC 2018 was held at the Helmholtz Zentrum München https://hddc.helmholtz-muenchen.de/. 220 participants, that include 17 internationally renowned invited speakers and 70 poster presenters discussed current trends in early stage drug discovery. The presentations covered topics ranging from lead discovery, new targets and deconvolution, structure-based and computational drug development, to chemistry and peptides in drug development.press release




• Dierk Niessing and colleagues identified a Cofactor of the protein Roquin playing a key role in the adaptive immune response. The researchers have identified NUFIP2, a protein of unknown function, as a co-factor of Roquins and discovered that NUFIP2 enhances Roquins regulatory function. press release