Motors of homeostasis and regeneration

At mk-lab we endeavour to

• understand how the molecular activities of motor enzymes and associated protein/nucleic acid complexes serve the life processes of cell division, reproduction, tissue morphogenesis, regeneration as well as genome stability and metabolic homeostasis;
• elucidate unexplored means and principles of intracellular organization that affect the functioning of motor enzyme systems and their associated protein and nucleic acid partners;
• establish cellular and animal models of pathological conditions affecting genome stability and stress response;
• explore how changes in intracellular homeostasis affect protein structure and, in turn, regulate protein and/or nucleoprotein condensation, which may turn out crucial for protecting macromolecules and/or orchestrating cellular stress response;
• explore how the pharmacological control of the enzymatic activities and/or condensation properties of the investigated proteins and nucleic acids can be used to aid tissue regeneration and in overcoming the resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapy and that of pathogenic bacteria to antibacterial agents.

Proteins central to the life processes in our scope of interest are

• DNA helicase motor enzymes of the RecQ family, known as the „guardians of the genome”;
• single-stranded DNA binding (SSB) proteins that are key to practically all aspects of DNA (and, increasingly, RNA) metabolism; and
• myosins, cytoplasmic motor enzymes driving and organizing cell division, differentiation, tissue morphogenesis and regeneration.

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