Elena Conti - Structural Cell Biology
PhD at the Imperial College, London (UK), 1996
Postdoctoral work at The Rockefeller University, New York (USA), 1997-1999
Group leader at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg (Germany) 1999-2007
Director at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried (Germany) since 2007
Honorary Professor at the Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich (Germany), since 2007
The group has had a long-standing interest in the molecular mechanisms that govern the transport of nuclear proteins and RNAs from their site of synthesis to their site of function. This is an essential and conserved eukaryotic process that allows for communication between nuclear transcription and cytosolic translation.
In recent years it has become increasingly evident that nuclear transport is not an isolated pathway, but is connected to both upstream and downstream cellular events. Proteins involved in mRNA transport are linked both to pre-mRNA splicing and to cytosolic mRNA surveillance and degradation. Moving in the opposite direction, nuclear import during interphase orchestrates the events leading to mitosis. This continuous flow of molecular information is thought to underpin the efficiency and fidelity of eukaryotic gene expression, and is based on the specific interactions between sets of proteins and complexes.
To understand these molecular mechanisms, we use X-ray crystallography in combination with other biophysical and biochemical methods.
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