Regulation of Lipid Homeostasis

On Thursday June 23rd, 2005 at 5:15 pm, Dr. Christoph Thiele will be our guest HPI-seminar speaker. Dr. Thiele, currently head of a research group at the famous Max-Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, is expert on cell biology of lipids and lipid protein interaction. His research is focused on three central basic questions:

• How is the lipid composition of a cell or a tissue regulated?
• Where are certain lipid species found in a cell and how is their targeting achieved?
• How do lipids interact with proteins to modulate their function?

To answer these questions, his group has developed most innovative technologies. Among them are

1. the use of polyene lipids as novel fluorescent lipid tags for lipid localisation and targeting studies,
2. use of photocrosscholesterol and photoPC as photocrosslinking lipids, the best tools available today to study the interaction of lipids with proteins in living cells
3. use of photoamino acids as new tools for protein-protein photocrosslinking in living cells, especially suited to study interactions of membrane proteins.

Dr. Christoph Thiele will present in his talk applications of innovative methods for the elucidation of lipid organization and function in the context of living cells. For detailed additional information on Dr. Thiele's research work and previous publications visit his website:
http://www.mpi-cbg.de/research/groups/thiele/thiele.html