Research projects of current students
- Maik Veelders
- Start date: June 2008
- Nationality: German
- Diploma thesis:
“Flocculins from Saccharomyces cerevisiae: functional and structural investigations”. (2008) Philipps-Universität, Marburg, Germany
- Research group:
AG Essen, Dept. of Chemistry, Philipps-Universität Marburg
- Research project description
In my research I try to get a closer insight into the mechanistics of fungal adhesins comprising a PA14 domain. My focus rests especially on the industrially important flocculins from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which are responsible for floc forming of baker’s yeast after completion of fermentation. Additionally, the orthologous Epa- and Rbt- adhesins from the human pathogenic yeasts Candida glabrata and Candida albicans are of a high interest in relation to iatrogenic fungal infections.
All of these adhesins contain a lectin-like domain, recognizing specific sugars on the surface of their respective target cells. By using X-ray structure analysis and different binding assays I investigate their specificity, affinities and structural principles of sugar binding.
