Team:TU-Munich/Team/Attributions

The research group at the [http://biologische-chemie.userweb.mwn.de/index.html Chair of Biological Chemistry] at TUM works in the biochemical field of protein engineering and design with its objectives set on the construction of artifical proteins with novel functions through rational as well as deductive research approaches. In this context, a range of methods facilitating the functional and structural analysis of native proteins was developed over the last years, with an increasing role of protein crystallography.

Laboratory of Prof. Dr. Helmreich

[http://www.sww.bv.tum.de Sanitary Environmental Engineering] is a horizontal discipline comprised of civil engineering, process engineering and chemistry/biology. Research and teaching include the fields of water suppy, sewage and rain water treatment, water quality and the modelling of aquatic systems. The complex scope demands fundamental as well as practical oriented research. The interdisciplinary team composition at the chair, consisting of engineers as well as natural scientists, works on the current topics of biofilm systems, dynamic simulation, process control and optimization of industrial processes, modeling of water quality, development of novel innovative industrial cleaning systems, development of holistic approaches on entire urban regions, fundamental research in the analysis of genetic information and transport and reaction mechanisms in microbial systems, rainwater, anaerobic technology and energy production.

Laboratory of Prof. Dr. Grill

The ([http://www.botanik.wzw.tum.de Chair for Botany]) investigates the abscisic acid (ABA) signal pathway in higher plants, phytochelatins, in vivo imaging methods for the visualization of genetic regulatory processes in live plants, root/sprout communication during drought stress, cytokinesis and the regulation of differential growth and allocation decisions in the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana.

Laboratory of Prof. Dr. Langosch

The [http://www.wzw.tum.de/biopolymere Chair for Chemistry of Biopolymers] focuses on the structural biochemistry of integral membrane proteins. Core themes are molecular interactions between membrane proteins, strucural dynamics of membrane bound protein helices, membrane protein/lipid interactions, structure/function relationships of integral membrane protein complexes (membranefusion, intermembrane proteolysis, lipidflip)

Laboratory of Prof. Dr. Schwechheimer

The [http://www.sysbiol.wzw.tum.de Chair for Systems Biology of Plants] investigates a range of queries concerning the ubiquitin proteasome system of plants applying a combination of genetics, molecular biology and cell biology with both genomic and proteomic approaches. The ubiquitin proteasome system plays a central role in the correct signal transduction of the hormones auxin and gibberellin.

Together with Prof. Schwechheimer we discussed several different signal transduction pathways that could be utilised for our kill-switch. Moreover he kindly granted us access to a fluorescence microscope.

Laboratory of Prof. Dr. Reski at Freiburg University

The team at the [http://www.plant-biotech.net/ Chair for Plant Biotechnology] is working on gene expression (transcripts, proteins, protein-modifications, metabolites, sub-cellular integration) in the bryophyte model plant Physcomitrella patens (Hedw.) B.S.G. at different levels in correlation with phenotype analysis and additionally employs comparative genomics approaches. Their holistic strategy on plant development combines biology, tools for micro analysis, computational biology and modelling. The method of homologous recombination in Physcomitrella is about five orders of magnitude more efficient than in Arabidopsis and is applied to analyse novel genes by knockout and allele replacement. Functional genomics of Physcomitrella were initiated in cooperation with industrial partners to identify novel genes relevant to metabolic engineering and to abiotic stresses such as drought, salt and cold with prospects on direct transfer to crop plants for improved performance. Transgenic Physcomitrella can be grown photoautotrophically in bioreactors. The team works on the production of pharmaceutically relevant proteins in such cultures in co-operation with the university spin-off company greenovation Biotech, Freiburg.

We would especially like to thank Dr. Gertrud Wiedemann, who kindly took the time and patience to teach us the protoplast transfection method at her lab. Also a big thank you to Omar Saleh, who helped us with the osmometer and to Anja Kuberski.

Laboratory of Prof. Dr. Fussenegger at ETH Zurich

The research group at the [http://www.bsse.ethz.ch/groups/group_fussenegger/index/ Chair for Biotechnology and Bioengineering] is implementing progress in basic research to achieve generic and prototypic advances in human therapy by focusing on mammalian cells and capitalizing on an integrated interdisciplinary systems approach. Their current research initiatives include several programs interfacing with biopharmaceutical manufacturing, gene therapy and tissue engineering:

Design of prototype biopharmaceutical manufacturing strategies by integrating engineering of mammalian production cell lines for increased secretion of high-quality biologics with upstream process development, design of novel trigger-inducible transgene expression systems for pharmacological dosing of in-situ-produced protein therapeutics as well as therapeutic reprogramming of endogenous gene networks, development of safe, efficient and affordable gene and protein transfer technologies with a focus on engineering of attenuated viral delivery systems, controlled transdifferentiation of mammalian cells by ectopic expression of different transgenes with precise dosing and timing enabling production of therapeutically relevant cell phenotypes, design of complex synthetic gene networks with digital expression logic allowing construction of prosthetic transcription circuits for seamless integration into host physiological networks, evaluation of prototype gene therapy applications using mouse disease models, epigenetic reprogramming of mammalian cells to improve transgene control modalities and lock cells into a desired phenotype, design of scaffold-free microtissues to study vascularization, transdifferentiation, intercellular crosstalk, tissue-implant fusion and electrogenic characteristics in a multicellular three-dimensional configuration and discovery of novel cytostatic, immunosuppressive and anti-infective drugs using engineered mammalian sensor proteins and tissue culture systems.

They kindly provided us with the pSH21 plasmid.

Laboratory of Dr. G.D. Wright ([http://www.thewrightlab.com Wright Lab] at McMaster University)

Kindly provided us with the plasmid pDEST14 which contains the genes ereA and ereB.

Laboratory of Prof. Dr. Arndt ([http://www.uni-potsdam.de/index.php?id=13895 Chair for Molecular Biotechnology] at Potsdam University)

Sven Hagen kindly provided us with the plasmids pBad-mVenus (RFC 25).

James Padolsey ([http://james.padolsey.com see his website])

We used his jQuery extension for [http://james.padolsey.com/javascript/cross-domain-requests-with-jquery/ Cross-domain AJAX requests] in the AutoAnnotator.