Projects Offered
Petra Beli Dorothee Dormann Ulrich Hohmann René Ketting Edward Lemke Stamatis Papathanasiou Eva Wolf Johannes Mayer_Ageing Johannes Mayer_Dynamics Daniel Sasca Natalia Soshnikova Tim Sparwasser Ari WaismanCellular responses to RNA damage
1 PhD project offered in the IPP summer call Molecular Mechanisms in Genome Stability & Gene Regulation
Scientific Background
RNA plays a central role in translating genetic information into functional proteins, regulating gene expression, and coordinating cellular responses. Like DNA, RNA is vulnerable to chemical damage from endogenous metabolic byproducts and environmental exposures. However, in contrast to the extensively studied DNA damage response, RNA damage is an emerging field where fundamental mechanisms of detection, signaling, and repair remain largely unexplored.
PhD Project: Decoding the RNA Damage Response: Mechanisms of Repair and Signaling
We are recruiting a motivated PhD candidate to join an exciting project investigating how RNA damage shapes cellular health and disease. RNA can be chemically modified and damaged by reactive aldehydes present in the environment and produced in human cells, alcohol consumption, and widely used chemotherapeutic agents, yet how cells detect, repair, and signal this damage remains poorly understood. This project will focus specifically on RNA–protein crosslinks—complex lesions that can disrupt gene expression and stress responses. Using cutting-edge molecular and cellular biology approaches, in particular quantitative proteomics, we aim to uncover the mechanisms by which cells repair these lesions and coordinate signaling pathways that respond to RNA damage. This work has important implications for understanding toxicity, cancer therapy side effects, aging and fundamental RNA biology.
If you are interested in this project, please select Beli as your group preference in the IPP application platform.
Publications relevant to this project
Suryo Rahmanto A, Blum CJ, Scalera C, Heidelberger JB, Mesitov M, Horn-Ghetko D, Gräf JF, Mikicic I, Hobrecht R, Orekhova A, Ostermaier M, Ebersberger S, Möckel MM, Krapoth N, Da Silva Fernandes N, Mizi A, Zhu Y, Chen JX, Choudhary C, Papantonis A, Ulrich HD, Schulman BA, König J, Beli P (2023) K6-linked ubiquitylation marks formaldehyde-induced RNA-protein crosslinks for resolution. Mol Cell. Dec 7;83(23):4272-4289.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2023.10.011. Epub 2023 Nov 10. PMID: 37951215. Link