GFP tagging in Göttingen

I am referring to tagging of the protein kind not the the street graffiti kind which blights many of our cities. Using GFP-labelled proteins as a handle to pull out components of protein complexes and identify them by Mass Spectrometry has been put to very good use in the Dept of Genetics and Biochemistry at Georg August Universitat in Gottingen where they have identified and characterised a number of new protein complexes in fungi including the STRIPAK complex. Its a nice example of the need for good infrastructure and equipment to do modern biology. Yesterday I visited the Dept to meet and talk with students and post docs in the labs of Gerhard Braus and Stefanie Poggleler and to give a seminar. While I had seen some of the work before at Asilomar it was nice to hear the stories again and first hand to better understand the work. Stefanie, Eva, Britta and Antonia were asking after Berit who is now in my lab in NZ. 

Georg August Universitat in Gottingen has a remarkable history in science with no less than 45 Nobel prize winners associated with this University - nearly all in Physics and Chemistry. The most recent award was in 2014 to Stefan Hell at the Max Planck for Super Resolution Fluorescence Microscopy - confocal at the nano level! 14 of the awards were for work  done at the University itself.  While out on my morning walk today I was wandering through the Stadtfriedhof (City Cemetery) to find a special memorial dedicated to the 8 Nobel prize winners buried there. 

Today I caught up with Ivo Feussner to discuss a collaboration we are setting up linked to my recent Marsden grant proposal. I first met Ivo in 2012 on my first visit to Gottingen when we discussed possible joint projects. One of the objectives in the Marsden proposal is on metabolite fingerprinting with Ivo. I think this will provide a great opportunity for exchange between our respective labs.

Nobel laureate memorial at Stadtfriedhof in Göttingen

Max Planck