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The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding a new Research Unit focused on the regulation of the quality control of proteins that ensure the functioning of all our cells / 4.1 million euros over four years
The German Research Foundation (DFG) will provide funding of 4.1 million euros over four years to a Research Unit from the life sciences at the University of Cologne focused on the regulation of proteostasis. Proteostasis plays an important role in the function and viability of cells: It ensures that proteins are produced and function properly, and that faulty proteins are degraded. Proteostasis is maintained by a network of quality control pathways. However, the capacity of this control system is limited. If it no longer works properly, cell function is impaired, which can lead to metabolic diseases, cancer and neurological disorders. The new Research Unit ‘Cell Non-Autonomous Regulation of Organismal Proteostasis’ (FOR 5762) focuses on deciphering the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of proteostasis – whether in a healthy or diseased state.
Professor Dr Joybrato Mukherjee, Rector of the University of Cologne, said: “I congratulate my colleagues on their success. The Research Unit will make valuable contributions to understanding the ageing process and the causes of age-related diseases. It is a great asset to the university’s Key Profile Area ‘Aging-Associated Diseases’.”
The Research Unit’s work is based on the assumption that proteostasis is balanced by exchange mechanisms between different tissues. The aim is to understand how the quality control pathways function across organs and react to environmental and metabolic changes. The spokesperson is Professor Dr David Vilchez from the University of Cologne’s Faculty of Medicine and CECAD, the Cologne Cluster of Excellence for Aging Research. The deputy spokesperson is Professor Dr Thorsten Hoppe from the University of Cologne’s Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and CECAD. Both will coordinate this Research Unit. In addition to other researchers from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, researchers from the University of Konstanz are also involved.
“As the proteostasis network is constantly challenged by changing metabolic, environmental and pathological conditions, maintaining a healthy proteome in all tissues is a lifelong task for the organism,” explains Professor Dr David Vilchez. “While the cell-autonomous mechanisms of quality control are well understood, only recently has there been evidence of systemic coordination of proteostasis between different tissues.” These findings indicate that there are non-autonomous communication pathways between cells that integrate and balance proteostasis mechanisms in different tissues to maintain the organism’s proteome.
The researchers aim to understand the dynamic regulation of quality control pathways in organisms that integrate environmental and metabolic changes. The interdisciplinary project will combine biochemical, cell biological, (opto)genetic, proteomic and metabolomic approaches to define the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of proteostasis of organisms under different physiological and pathological conditions.
With the new Research Unit, the University of Cologne now has a total of five Research Units for which its members act as spokespersons; four spokespersons conduct research at the Faculty of Medicine. It also participates in thirteen other DFG Research Units.
Press and Communications Team:
Jan Voelkel
+49 221 470 2356
j.voelkel@verw.uni-koeln.de
Press Spokesperson: Dr Elisabeth Hoffmann – e.hoffmann@verw.uni-koeln.de
Professor Dr David Vilchez
CECAD – Cologne Cluster of Excellence for Aging Research
+49 221 478 84172
dvilchez@uni-koeln.de
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