GRK 1478:  Membrane Proteins and Biological Membranes

• Subject Area: Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
• Term: from 2008 to 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 46710898

Integral membrane proteins account for approximately one third of the coding capacity of the genes in an average organism. They are critically important for multiple central functions in any living cell. It is estimated that membrane proteins provide 80 to 90 percent of the targets relevant to the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. Despite their importance little is known about membrane proteins. This is mostly due to their partially hydrophobic nature. In addition, their investigation is impeded by dynamic interactions with the membrane. Membrane proteins are notoriously resistant to standard proteomic analysis as well as to high-throughput techniques.
Thus, their handling relies on individual approaches using numerous highly specialised techniques.
These techniques are successfully applied by international renowned and greatly respected scientists from the Universities of Freiburg, Strasbourg and Basel, who have founded together the tri-national Research Training Group. The working language is English. In particular, the Research Training Group intends to attract excellent students from Germany and abroad who have graduated in chemistry, biology, pharmaceutical sciences and medicine. The joint programme of the universities from the three countries provides, on one hand, a broad conceptual and methodological basis for the understanding of the research area and, on the other, specific and project-related knowledge and skills. The Research Training Group includes participation in events provided by other research consortia in the region including courses in soft skills.
The PhD students will be prepared for future scientific work in academic research and in chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies by interdisciplinary and international training courses. The three universities are located in an area, which is worldwide one of the most important locations of these companies. According to the interdisciplinarity of the programme, the scientific questions are tackled by means of biochemical, biophysical, physico-chemical and pharmalogical methods as well as by state-of-the-art molecular-biology and cell-biology techniques. The projects involved deal with the assembly and the insertion of membrane proteins into the membrane, their localisation within the membrane, their specific interactions with the membrane, their three-dimensional structure and the transport of substances across the membrane.

• DFG Programme: International Research Training Groups
• International Connection: France, Switzerland
• Applicant Institution: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
• IRTG-Partner Institution: Universität Basel; Université de Strasbourg
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Thorsten Friedrich
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Andreas Bechthold; Professor Dr. Oliver Einsle; Professor Dr. Peter Graumann; Professor Dr. Hans-Georg Koch; Professor Dr. Andreas Labahn; Professor Dr. Chris Meisinger; Professor Dr. Matthias Müller; Professor Dr. Dirk Schneider
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Dr. Ueli Aebi; Professor Dr. Burkhard Bechinger; Dr. David Cobessi; Professor Dr. Andreas Engel; Professor Dr. Urs Jenal; Professor Dr. Franc Pattus; Dr. Isabelle Schalk; Professor Dr. Joachim Seelig; Dr. Elisabeth Trifilieff
• IRTG-Partner: Spokespersons: Professorin Dr. Petra Hellwig; Professor Dr. Wolfgang P. Meier (†)