Mechano-Sensing Biomolecular Systems
Event details
| Date | 23.01.2024 |
| Hour | 16:00 › 17:00 |
| Speaker | Prof. Frauke Gräter, Molecular Biomechanics group (MBM), Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (DE) |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
BIOENGINEERING SEMINAR
Abstract:
Nature has evolved sophisticated molecular systems that sense mechanical force. They do so by specifically responding to the external force by a structural change or mechanochemical reaction. I will showcase systems inside and outside of the biological cell to highlight basic principles of molecular mechano-sensing and how one can engineer or mimic such systems. Examples will include protein activation by stretching forces and our recent discovery of mechanoradicals in collagen. We find protein mechanoradicals, just as their polymer analogues known for already a century, to translate mechanical into oxidative stress, as a new mode of mechano-sensing in biology.
Bio:
Frauke Gräter is group leader of the Molecular Biomechanics group (MBM) at HITS and Professor for Molecular Biomechanics at Heidelberg University. She studied chemistry in Tübingen, Kyoto and Heidelberg and did her Ph.D. at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany, in 2005. After postdoc positions, among them at Columbia University, New York, USA, she became leader of a junior group in Shanghai, China, at the partner institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Max Planck Society. Since 2009, Frauke Gräter has been group leader of the Molecular Biomechanics (MBM) group at HITS. Additionally, she became professor for molecular biomechanics at Heidelberg University in 2014, and from 2017 until 2020 she was member of the board of directors at the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR) at Heidelberg University. She served as Scientific Director of HITS from 2021-2022. The major interest of Frauke Gräter and her Molecular Biomechanics group is to decipher how proteins have been designed to specifically respond to mechanical forces in the cellular environment or as a biomaterial. For this purpose, they use high performance computing (HPC) and simulation techniques on different scales. In her research, Frauke Gräter covers medicine topics like blood clotting as well as materials science on spider silk or collagen. For her outstanding impact on HPC research, Frauke Gräter was awarded PRACE Ada Lovelace Award for HPC. In 2020, she received an ERC Consolidator Grant awarded by the European Research Council. As of 2021, she is a member of the Editorial Board of the “Biophysical Journal”. She is visiting professor at EPFL from 2023-2024.
Zoom link for attending remotely: https://epfl.zoom.us/j/67706983281
Abstract:
Nature has evolved sophisticated molecular systems that sense mechanical force. They do so by specifically responding to the external force by a structural change or mechanochemical reaction. I will showcase systems inside and outside of the biological cell to highlight basic principles of molecular mechano-sensing and how one can engineer or mimic such systems. Examples will include protein activation by stretching forces and our recent discovery of mechanoradicals in collagen. We find protein mechanoradicals, just as their polymer analogues known for already a century, to translate mechanical into oxidative stress, as a new mode of mechano-sensing in biology.
Bio:
Frauke Gräter is group leader of the Molecular Biomechanics group (MBM) at HITS and Professor for Molecular Biomechanics at Heidelberg University. She studied chemistry in Tübingen, Kyoto and Heidelberg and did her Ph.D. at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany, in 2005. After postdoc positions, among them at Columbia University, New York, USA, she became leader of a junior group in Shanghai, China, at the partner institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Max Planck Society. Since 2009, Frauke Gräter has been group leader of the Molecular Biomechanics (MBM) group at HITS. Additionally, she became professor for molecular biomechanics at Heidelberg University in 2014, and from 2017 until 2020 she was member of the board of directors at the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR) at Heidelberg University. She served as Scientific Director of HITS from 2021-2022. The major interest of Frauke Gräter and her Molecular Biomechanics group is to decipher how proteins have been designed to specifically respond to mechanical forces in the cellular environment or as a biomaterial. For this purpose, they use high performance computing (HPC) and simulation techniques on different scales. In her research, Frauke Gräter covers medicine topics like blood clotting as well as materials science on spider silk or collagen. For her outstanding impact on HPC research, Frauke Gräter was awarded PRACE Ada Lovelace Award for HPC. In 2020, she received an ERC Consolidator Grant awarded by the European Research Council. As of 2021, she is a member of the Editorial Board of the “Biophysical Journal”. She is visiting professor at EPFL from 2023-2024.
Zoom link for attending remotely: https://epfl.zoom.us/j/67706983281
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free
Organizer
- Prof. Bruno Correia, Laboratory of Protein Design and Immunoengineering (LPDI), Institute of Bioengineering (IBI), École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
Contact
- Ms. Suzanne Balharry, Laboratory of Protein Design and Immunoengineering (LPDI), Institute of Bioengineering (IBI), École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)