News
Dr. Florian Brünig Receives the Dissertation Award of the Physical Society of Berlin
Dr. Florian Brünig was honored with the prestigious Dissertation Award of the Physical Society of Berlin (PGzB) for his exceptional doctoral work on proton transfer dynamics in water and biological environments. The award recognizes four outstanding dissertations in physics and related fields each year and was awarded this year at a festive ceremony at the Freie Universität Berlin. The prizewinners presented their award-winning work in short talks.
Nov 27, 2024
Congratulations to Prof. Dr. Igor Schapiro on his new Professorship!
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Prof. Dr. Igor Schapiro on his appointment as a Professor at the Department of Physics and a director position at the UA Ruhr Research Center for Chemical Science and Sustainability , effective since October 1 st , 2024.
Nov 13, 2024
Congratulations to Prof. Dr. Stephan Block on his Heisenberg Professorship!
We are excited to congratulate Prof. Dr. Stephan Block on his appointment as a Heisenberg Professor in Biophysical Chemistry at the Freie Universität Berlin effective since July 1 st , 2024. The focus of this Heisenberg project is to quantify the action of single macromolecules and macromolecular complexes (ideally with single molecule/single complex resolution) . Let’s see what excites him about bio-nanointerfaces and what he plans to investigate in the next 5 years.
Nov 12, 2024
Obituary for Professor Dr. Klaus-Peter Hofmann (1943–2024)
Professor Klaus-Peter Hofmann, a leading biochemist and biophysicist, revolutionized our understanding of visual signal transduction through his research on rhodopsin and G protein-coupled receptors. His work laid the foundation for advances in cellular biology and drug development, leaving a lasting impact on science and medicine. Patrick Scheerer and colleagues of the SFB 1078 mourn and keep him in deep memory.
Oct 18, 2024
Review by Carlos Baiz (Humboldt Fellow and SFB 1078 Research Visitor)
Carlos Baiz, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin, is visiting the SFB 1078 and Prof Heberle’s group at the FU Berlin again as part of his Humboldt Fellowship. He published a paper in the June 2024 issue of the Annual Review of Physical Chemistry Journal, which benefited from his collaboration with the SFB1078, and reviews modern techniques for characterizing cell membrane interfaces. It highlights advances in vibrational spectroscopy, such as surface-enhanced infrared spectroscopy (SEIRAS), two-dimensional sum-frequency generation spectroscopy, and two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy. These techniques, combined with multiscale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, provide detailed insights into membrane structure and dynamics. After his fellowship, Baiz plans to establish time-resolved nano-IR spectroscopy capabilities at UT Austin.
Jul 12, 2024
More than half of expected hydrogen atoms in PSII discovered by Hussein et al (project A05, published in Science)
Project A05 is focussing their research on the protein complex photosystem II. In a new Science paper they used cryo-electron microscopy to visiualize PSII at even higher resolution than existing x-ray structures to identify protons. Hussein et al. collected high-resolution cryo–electron microscopy data of fully hydrated photosystem II from the thermophilic cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus vestitus to a final resolution of 1.71 angstroms. The structure reveals several previously undetected partially occupied water binding sites and more than half of the hydrogen and proton positions. This clarifies the pathways of substrate water binding and plastoquinone B protonation.
Jun 20, 2024
Renowned Scientist Prof. Amdursky joins FU Berlin as Humboldt Fellow
Prof. Joachim Heberle (Speaker of the SFB1078, Experimental Molecular Biophysics, FU Berlin) proudly welcomes Prof. Nadav Amdursky from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology Schulich (Faculty of Chemistry in Haifa, Israel) as a Humboldt Fellow. Prof. Amdursky is an esteemed researcher in the field of charge transport across bioderived materials. He is set to undertake a cutting-edge research project titled "Following Proton Transfer from a Photo-Released Proton within Biological Systems with Transient Mid-IR and Raman Spectroscopies" . His research stay will contribute significantly to our CRC 1078.
Jun 03, 2024
SFB Speaker Joachim Heberle Co-organizer of Telluride Workshop 2024 (16 – 20/7/2024)
Joachim Heberle, speaker of SFB 1078,co-organizes this year's Telluride Workshop "Proton Transfer in Biology" in Colorado
May 24, 2024
Wikström Symposium Helsinki, 26 April
Ville Kaila (SFB 1078 Mercator Fellow) is organising the symposium "Mechanisms of Primary Energy Transduction in Biology" on 26 April in Helsinki, Finland. Organised to commemorate Wikström's legacy, the symposium promises to provide participants with a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in the field.
Apr 20, 2024
SFB public outreach at the Hessische Oberstufenschülerakademie
Jesse Jones, a PhD candidate in our integrated graduate school (IGK), volunteered in the annual Hessische Oberstufenschülerakademie in August for his 6th time, this time representing our SFB.
Jan 22, 2024
CRC 1078 mourns the death of Ulrike Alexiev
We are deeply saddened to announce the death of CRC 1078 founding member Ulrike Alexiev.
Jan 03, 2024
Public Outreach at the Berlin Science Week
Nov 10, 2023
IGK alumni Florian Brünig's successful disputation
Former member of our Integrated Graduate School (IGK) Florian Brünig, from the group of PI Roland Netz (Project C1), has successfully defended his PhD thesis. Congratulations, Florian!
Nov 08, 2023
IGK at the Berlin Science Week 2023
The IGK will be demonstrating some of the work they do on protonation dynamics at the Berlin Science Week 2023 in the Museum for Naturkunde.
Nov 03, 2023
PI Peter Hegemann will speak about optobiology at the 22nd Einstein Lecture Dahlem
The lecture will take place at 18:00 on November 7th, 2023.
Oct 26, 2023
New insight into rhodopsin function revealed by SFB 1078 project B3 in 2 publications
Project B3 has published two new papers in The Journal of Physical Chemistry B about channel-rhodopsins, which are light-activated membrane proteins that transport ions across cell membranes. In Schubert et al., IGK members Luiz Schubert and Jheng-Liang Chen alongside PIs Joachim Heberle (B3/ A1 ), Ville Kaila ( Mercator Fellow ), and Ramona Schlesinger ( project B4 ) aim to understand vectorial ion transport. Using time-resolved IR spectroscopy in combination with molecular dynamics, they investigated the protonation pathway of the inward-directed proton pump xenorhodopsin from Nanosalina sp ( Ns XeR). Their findings suggest that residue D220 assists with mediating proton release, and is not the primary proton acceptor for protons transiently released by the retinal Schiff base. In Saliminasab et al., they investigate a new instance of convergent evolution within sensory rhodopsins, a phenomona where unrelated or very distant protein groups display the same function.
Oct 03, 2023
