Every year at the turn of the year, Osnabrück Biology awards its Master's prizes, one of which is sponsored by the members of the Dean's Office and the other by the Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM). Lecturers can nominate excellent Master's theses for the award and a jury selects the two best theses from these nominations. The awards were presented by the Dean, Prof. Dr. Roland Brandt, on 29 January as part of the department's New Year's reception. This year's winners were Bakeeran Pathmalolan and Kevin Tanzusch.
Enzyme activation and the development of leukaemia: Bakeeran Pathmalolan investigated the functional coupling between cytokine receptors and Janus kinases
Bakeeran Pathmalolan was awarded the Dean's Prize for his work entitled ‘Mechanisms of oncogenic JAK activation and inhibition by pseudokinase binders’. Prof. Dr. Jacob Piehler (Biophysics division) was the supervisor, Hauke Winkelmann was the practical advisor.
In his master's thesis, Pathmalolan investigated the functional coupling between cytokine receptors and Janus kinases. Normally, these together control central cellular processes, including the proliferation of immune cells, the regulation of inflammatory reactions and the differentiation and survival of cells. These signalling pathways are essential for the function of the immune system and tissue regeneration. If they are disrupted by genetic changes, this can lead to uncontrolled cell proliferation – a typical characteristic of leukaemia. A better understanding of the structure, activation mechanism and dynamics of these complexes could help to develop new therapeutic approaches for this disease in the long term.
One aspect of Pathmalolan's work that particularly fascinated him was its high medical relevance. ‘One highlight was definitely testing inhibitors to find out how they affect JAK receptor interaction and signalling,’ says the award winner. ‘It was precisely this direct link to drug development that I liked, because it shows how basic biophysical research can contribute to new therapeutic approaches.’
Since this year, Bakeeran Pathmalolan has been continuing his research as a doctoral student in the Biophysics division. He is building directly on the topic of his master's thesis in order to deepen the knowledge gained and clarify open questions on the functional coupling of cytokine receptors and Janus kinases – with the long-term goal of contributing to the development of new leukaemia therapies.
When membranes merge: Kevin Tanzusch investigated the molecular basis of cellular fusion processes
Kevin Tanzusch received the prize sponsored by the Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology for his work entitled: ‘Lateral organisation and dynamics of the vacuolar tethering machinery on model membranes’. The supervisors were Prof. Dr. Jacob Piehler (Biophysics division) and Prof. Dr. Christian Ungermann (Biochemistry division), with practical advice from Arthur Felker and Dr. Nadia Füllbrunn.
In his master's thesis, Tanzusch focussed on the mode of action of the HOPS complex. This protein complex is found, for example, on the membrane envelope of lysosomes – cell organelles that play a role in the degradation of proteins, among other things – where it causes the fusion with smaller membrane vesicles. This fusion process is crucial for the molecules contained in the vesicles to be taken up into the lysosome. In his work, Tanzusch specifically investigated how the HOPS complex interacts with a certain protein on the vesicle membrane, a so-called Rab GTPase called Ypt7. To do this, he isolated the proteins from cells, reconstructed them on artificial membranes and then analysed their dynamics using high-resolution single-molecule fluorescence microscopy.
Tanzusch is also enthusiastic about working on his project. ‘I was particularly fascinated by observing the dynamics of individual molecules live,’ he says. ‘I also really enjoyed working in an international team full of colleagues who are passionate about research and the continuous scientific dialogue.‘
Kevin Tanzusch is now also a doctoral student in the Biophysics division. As part of his project, he would initially like to build on the findings from his Master's thesis. In the long term, he also plans to reconstruct the entire membrane fusion process mediated by the HOPS complex at high resolution and dynamically in order to understand it in detail.
