Department News

Congratulations to three department members on receiving the Junior Scientists' Publication Award (JSPA) of the MPI of Biochemistry! Gisele and Luca were recognized for their co-first-authored Nature Communications study on cysteine-tuned regulation of CDO1 stability. Jakob was recognized for his Nature study revealing how the ubiquitin system controls target-directed microRNA degradation through 2-RNA-factor authentication. Well deserved!

Alina presented her recent work in a selected short talk at the 4th Ubiquitin Function in Health and Disease Fusion Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, showing how a CK2–FBXW11 kinase–E3 ubiquitin ligase cascade senses tryptophan to control TDO2 levels. Congratulations Alina! more

At the 4th joint IMPRS Seminar of IMPRS-ML and IMPRS-BI programs, Sara’s poster was seelected as the best poster byt her peers. Congratulations Sara!

Eleftheria (Ria) represented the Schulman Department and the MPI of Biochemistry at the 75th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, where ~600 young scientists from around the world met with Nobel Laureates for a week of interdisciplinary scientific exchange. A wonderful opportunity! Congratulations Ria! more

Congratulations to Brenda on her election as a Foreign Member of the Royal Society, one of the oldest and most prestigious scientific academies in the world! Read more in our Press Release. more

Brenda is named as awardee of the Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Federal Republic of Germany. Congratulations, Brenda! more

New Publication in Nature Communications: The study revealed the cysteine-sensing E3 ligase that targets the metabolic enzyme CDO1 for degradation when cysteine is scarce. Disease-causing CDO1 mutations that escape this natural pathway can still be eliminated by a molecular glue degrader engaging a different protein surface. Great collaboration with Matthias Mann and Peter Murray and Gary Kleiger. Congratulations to all the authors, especially to co-first authors Gisele and Luca! more

Several members of the department attended the Ubiquitin & Fiends Symposium 2026, organized by University of Vienna. Brenda gave a talk as an invited speaker. Congratulations to Jakob who won a Best Poster Prize. more

A brilliantly presented and successful defense, congratulations Caro!

New Publication in Nature Chemical Biology: Discovery of a charged molecular glue degrader that enters the cell uncharged and becomes activated inside, engaging the CTLH E3 ligase through its YPEL5 subunit. These findings unlock E3 ligases with charged pockets for targeted protein degradation. Great collaboration with the Gray (Stanford) and Ebert (Dana-Farber/Harvard) labs. Congratulations to all the authors! more

New Publication in Nature: This collaboration with Bartel Lab (Whitehead Institute) discovered a new principle for how RNA molecules can specify protein degradation. The ZSWIM8 E3 ligase uses a 2-RNA-factor authentication — requiring both a microRNA and a matching trigger RNA — to selectively recognize AGO complexes for degradation. Congratulations to all authors, especially to co-first authors Jakob and Elena. Special thanks to Katherine McJunkin for her News and Views and to Base by Base for their PaperCast. -> Press Release more

Congratulations to Kerstin on her Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF) PhD Fellowship! Well deserved!

New Publication in Cell: Structures along formation of Proteasome Storage Granules inside yeast cells by cryo ET show assembly and functional impact of a membraneless organelle. Suprise! Paracrystalline array of 26S proteasomes! -> Press Release
A great collaboration from Baumeister and Schulman labs with Cordula Enenkel/Oliver Ernst from U. Toronto. Congratulations to all authors! more

Our new preprint shows how tryptophan binding to an exosite on TDO2 regulates a phosphorylation‑dependent ubiquitin–E3 ligase cascade, providing a metabolite‑gated mechanism that links tryptophan levels to TDO2 degradation. Congratulations to all the authors, especially Alina! more

This collaborative work with Bartel Lab established a two-RNA-factor authentication mechanism for E3 ligase substrate recognition, diverging from conventional degron-based recognition. Congratulations to all the authors, especially the co-first authors Jakob and Elena! more

Great collaboration with Sidhu Lab! We are reporting in PNAS on a generalizable approach for engineering E2 enzymes to enhance their selectivity and affinity toward particular E3 ubiquitin ligases to probe their activities. Congratulations to all the other authors, especially the first author Jiale!  more

At the IMPRS-ML Winter Seminar 2025, Luca’s talk and Hannah’s poster were awarded the best in their categories. Congratulations!

Congratulations to Alina and Sam for winning the “Best Poster Award” at The Australian Ubiquitin Summit 2025, Lorne, Australia. 

Alina, Ria and Sam presented posters at the Lorne Ubiquitin Summit, and Brenda gave an invited talk on the dynamic regulation of ubiquitin signaling in response to signals. Great to see former lab members Min Zhuang and Kuen-Phon Wu there too!

New preprint from our collaboration with the Mann and Murray labs! We reveal how cysteine availability can flip an E3 ligase-substrate pair's stability. Congratulations to all the authors, especially first authors Gisele and Luca, and thanks to Gary for valuable discussions! more

Congratulations to our alumnus Lukas Henneberg on receiving an Honorable Mention from the International Birnstiel Award Committee for his PhD work in our department! We're proud to see his excellent research recognized. more

At the 3rd Joint IMPRS Seminar of IMPRS-ML and IMPRS-BI programs, Sam's poster was selected as the best poster by his peers. Congratulations Sam!

Leo showcased his recently published research to an international audience. The recording of his talk is now available online! more

EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowships support excellent postdoctoral researchers throughout Europe and the world for a period of up to two years. Congratulations Zebin!

Great representation from our team at the "Understanding Ubiquitylation: From Molecular Mechanisms to Disease" symposium in Würzburg! Brenda was an invited speaker, Leo gave a selected short talk, and Jakob, Sam, and Sara presented posters. Hannah also attended this valuable scientific exchange. more

New Publication in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology -> Our TRIP12 structures reveal its active site at high resolution forming K29-linked and K29/K48-branched chains, showing key HECT E3 elements for the first time and suggesting a consensus mechanism for HECT E3s. Congratulations Sam, Laura, Ronnald, Joanna, Kirby and collaborators Matthew & Monique from Leiden University! more

Frank and Leo attended the annual Ubiquitin & Friends Symposium in Vienna. Leo received the best short talk prize with “ Deciphering the Ubiquitin Degradation Code”. Congrats Leo! more

The EU-funded prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship supports outstanding researchers, innovative research and collaboration for 2 years period. Congratulations Zebin! more

Brenda presented our recent work on UbiREAD at this exciting conference. Alina and Frank shared their research through posters, while Celine, Ekam, and Juliane joined to learn about the latest advances in the field. more

New Publication in Molecular Cell: A new technology to decipher the intricacies of the ubiquitin code within cells. Congratulations Leo! -> ­Press Release
UbiRead has also been featured in Mol. Cell preview by E. Maspero & S. Polo -> ­Deconstructing destruction: A rapid route to proteasomal fate
  more

We held an amazing retreat with the Immunoregulation Research Group of Peter Murray in the Ringberg Castle. Our special thanks to the keynote speaker Prof. Hidde Ploegh and guest speakers Dr. Thierry Nordmann and Dr. Kamyar Hadian for their exciting presentations and stimulating discussions.

Alina, Caro, Leo, Luca, Ria, and Sam who are current and past Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation (BIF) Fellows attended this exclusive event organized by BIF where Brenda gave a talk and served as co-chair. more

The award recognizes our collaborative work: Skraban-Deardorff intellectual disability syndrome-associated mutations in WDR26 impair CTLH E3 complex assembly, published last year in FEBS Letters. Congratulations Arno & Peter! more

Our work on charged-degron binding pockets as targets for TPD gained much attention at the Proximity Based Therapeutics: Targeted Protein Degradation and Other Pharmacological Approaches symposium.

New Publication in Nature: Great collaboration! Congratulations to MoMaS members Lukas, Jakob, and Viola for discovering stress induction of FBXO31 by our active E3 ligase profiling! Big congrats to Jakob Farnung, Matthias Muhar, Jeff Bode, Jacob Corn, and all authors for this outstanding work! more

New Publication in Science Advances: Great collaboration, and congratulations to Felix Kraus, ASAP Team Harper, Coon and Harper labs and all authors! Kudos to MoMaS members past and present Cristina, Anna, and Florian for outstanding contributions and awesome collaboration with Plitzko for this outstanding study! more

Feldberg Prize 2025 for Anglo-German scientific exchange is awarded to scientists in Germany and Britain annually for their outstanding achievements in their fields. Congratulations Brenda! more

Brenda presented at the special symposium honoring Professor Thomas Sommer's remarkable career at the Max Delbrück Center. more

Congratulations Alina!

Brenda co-organized the XII Zomes Conference in Shenzhen and gave additional talks at Westlake University in Hangzhou, the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, and Shanghai Technical University throughout first half of November.

Alina won the Audience Best Poster Prize at the Heinrich Wieland Prize Symposium. Congratulations Alina! more

Brenda was honored to deliver the Cecile M. Pickart Memorial Lecture, which honors Pickart's fundamental contributions to the ubiquitin field. more

Alina (flash talk + poster), Frank (poster), Jiale (poster), Luca and Brenda (speaker) attended the EMBO workshop in Cavtat-Dubrovnik, Croatia. Danny Scott from St. Jude Schulman group as well as multiple Schulman Group alumni - Arno Alpi, Danny Huang, Vladislav Sviderskiy, Helen Walden (speaker) - were also at the event. more

Lukas is awarded this prestigious award for his PhD project, probing active ubiquitin E3 ligases. Lukas developed probes targeting active ubiquitin E3s within cells and utilized them in mass spectrometry-based workflows to explore the response of these networks to extracellular signals. Congratulations Lukas! more

Cristina defended her thesis! 

We're sad to bid farewell to Arno as he embarks on his new adventure as Senior Lecturer in Edinburgh, but we're taking comfort in the fact that he'll remain a close collaborator and friend. We'll miss Arno, but we're excited to see the great things he'll achieve in his new role.

Gary's summer sabbatical with us has come to an end. We're grateful for the time he spent with our team and look forward to his return.

Happy 25th anniversary, Judith! We're truly privileged to have you in the team!

Brenda gave a talk titled “WDR26 and the GID complex” at the SKDEAS Family Meeting. Every two years, families, researchers, and supporters from around the globe come together to share, learn, and inspire toward understanding and advocating for Skraban-Deardorff Syndrome. more

JSPA is awarded by MPI of Biochemistry every year  to junior scientists with outstanding achievements. Congratulations Laura!

Congratulations Lukas!

Brenda gave a talk titled “Signaling through the ubiquitin-proteasome system” as a speaker at the 48th FEBS Congress. more

Brenda (Vallee Visiting Professor) and Lukas (poster) attended the symposium which brings together a multidisciplinary team of Vallee Visiting Professors, Vallee Scholars, a guest scientist and ~10 nominated early career researchers. more

New Publication - Great collaborative work! Congratulations to MoMaS member Jakob and form er PhD student Joanna (Asia), and all the other authors. more

MoMaS Alumna Dawafuti Sherpa is awarded the prestigious Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society for her doctoral thesis work in the Schulman Group. Dawa established a new paradigm for substrate targeting by E3 ubiquitin ligases and ubiquitin dependent regulation of metabolism. more

Brenda (speaker) and Karthik (poster) attended the FASEB Science Research Conference - Ubiquitin and Ub-like Proteins in Niagara Falls, New York. more

Congratulations Anna!

Jakob was at the 9th Chemical Protein Synthesis Conference in Nagoya, Japan.

She presented her PhD work in a short talk at the event in Spetses, Greece.

Brenda (organizer and speaker), Alina, Ria (poster) and Sam (poster) represented MoMaS in Dundee, UK.

New Publication in Molecular Cell - Congratulations to Karthik, Jakub, Dawa, Sara, Ria, Annette, Susanne, Alpi and all the other authors. Great collaboration of Hadian, Murray, Mann and Schulman groups! more

Congratulations Josie!

Arno, Celine, Frank, Leo and Sara represented MoMas at the symposium. Arno gave a talk and Frank and Sara presented posters!

Congratulations Laura!

Do you want to know more about the “Signaling by the ubiquitin system”. The lecture is now available online here. more

New Publication in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Congratulations to Daniel, Linus, Ishi, Jiale, Sebastian, Raj, Luca and all the other authors. more

New Publication in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Congratulations Frank, Jiale, Susanne and all the collaborators.
@ Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) Team Harper more

Congratulations Linus!

New Publication - Congratulations to Annette, Judith, Jakub, Karthik, Dawa and Arno. Great collaboration with Murray Group. more

Congratulations Ria!

New Publication & Journal Cover - Congratulations to Cristina and Anna! And thanks to collaborators Melissa and Wade for visiting and making this happen
@ Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) Team Harper more

New Publication in Molecular Cell- Congratulations to Joanna, Ishita, Rajan and collaborators! Amazing this started from Gary’s summer sabbatical!

New Publication - Congratulations to Joanna, Sam, David, Rajan and the summer member of the lab Gary!
-> Press Release: How cells sort their trash

Brenda (organizer and speaker), Jakub (poster), and Laura (poster) participated the symposium in Colorado!

New Publication in Nature Communications - Congratulations Josie, Luca, Susanne and Bastian!

Congratulations Jakob!

The picture is from the article ‘Combinatorial selective ER-phagy remodels the ER during neurogenesis’. Congratulations Cristina!
@ Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) Team Harper more

New Publication in Molecular Cell- Congratulations to Jakub, Dawa, Christine, Eleftheria, Laura, Viola, Susanne, Judith, Rajan and Arno!

New Publication in Nature Communications - Congratulations Khee, Rajan, Ronnald and Susanne!

Josephine Botsch got the Best Poster First Place and Lukas Henneberg received the Best Talk Second Place. Congratulations Josie and Lukas!

Congratulations Sam!

New Publication - Congratulations Ishi, Daniel, Khee, Arno and of course Nick! Fantastic that this was inspired by one of Gary’s summer stints in the lab!

New Publication in Molecular Cell - Congratulations Daniel and the Beli lab!

Congratulations to Cristina! She is one of the three October Open Science Champions of Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) She was one of the first to volunteer to participate in ASAP’s interview series, Protocol Particulars. Watch her interview here. more

Congratulations Ishi!

New Publication in Nature Chemical Biology- Congratulations to Lukas and Khee! Special thanks to Matthias Mann and Sachdev Sidhu!
-> Press Release: New "radar" detects active cellular destroyers

New Publication in Nature Chemical Biology - Congratulations Laura, Daniel, Rajan and Ronnald!

Preview by Laura and Brenda for Mark et al. Cell and Tsai et al. Mol Cell .

New Publication - Congrats Frank and of course Felix and Team Harper!
@ Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP)

New Publication in Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed.- Congratulations David, Daniel, Josie, Laura and Sebastian! Special thanks to Monique for including us!
In memory of Professor Huib Ovaa, his passion for science will always be an inspiration to us.

Josie’s poster was selected the Best Poster at the EMBO Workshop - Protein Quality Control: From molecular mechanisms to therapeutic intervention. Congratulations Josie!

New Publication - Congratulations Bastian! Thanks Ivan for including us!

Best Short Talk Prize was given to Jakob Farnung and Leo Kiss received a Travel Award. Congratulations Jakob and Leo! more

New Publication - Congratulations to Khee, Dany and Lukas!
-> Press Release: Rock'n'roll mechanism helps to target proteins for degradation

New Funding - UPSmeetMEt will study the crosstalk between the ubiquitin system and metabolism! Congratulations Brenda!
-> Press Release

Congratulations Alina!

New Publication - Congrats Meijing, Ishi and Florian!

Congratulations Luca!

New Publication in Molecular Cell - Congratulations Dany and Khee!

Award - Joint with Ivan Ðikić (Goethe Uni.), Brenda was awarded for her scientific contributions to our understanding of the function of ubiquitin and its mechanisms in cells. Congratulations Brenda!
-> Press Release

EMBO Long-Term Fellowships are awarded for a period of two years to internationally mobile postdoctoral researchers in Europe and around the world. Congrats Leo!

Congrats Dawa!

New Publication in eLife - Congratulations Dawa, Judith, Jakub, Karthik, Christine, Annette, Oliver and Arno!

Khee’s article is one of the winners of the inaugural 2021 Best Paper award of the journal Current Opinion in Structural Biology. Congratulations Khee! more

Congrats Khee!

New Publication in PNAS - Congratulations Anna, Cristina and Florian!

New Publication - Congratulations Linus, Khee, Maren and Susanne!

Congrats Dawa & Jakub!

Congrats Asia!

New Publication - Congratulations Shuai, Dawa, Jakub, Maximilian, Susanne and Florian!

Congratulations Daniel!

New Publication - Congratulations Christine, Viola, Jakub and Dawa!

Congrats Sebi!

New Review - Congratulations Dawa & Jakub!

New Review - Congratulations Daniel!

Congrats Jakub!