The Institute Colloquium: Molecular machines in action: architecture, structural plas
Date
Monday, December 2, 2013 16:30 - 17:30
Speaker
Thomas Marlovits (Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, Vienna)
Location
Raiffeisen Lecture Hall, Central Building
Series
Colloquium
Tags
Institute Colloquium
Contact
What keeps cells and organisms alive are specific functions performed by highly organized macromolecular assemblies. Our research group wants to understand the architectural design and underlying molecular principles of these biological nanomachines. In particular, we are interested in membrane-associated processes, which are a fundamental characteristic of all living cells. They ensure that individual cells are able to effectively communicate with, and adapt to, their environment. Cells achieve this by either physically translocating molecules to the opposite site of a membrane (translocation) or by receiving, transmitting, and amplifying incoming signals (signal transduction). We uses an integrated approach by combining modern molecular biology, genetic, biochemical, bioengineering and structural tools (cryoEM) to directly visualize such molecular machines in action.