Jürgen Engel (biophysicist)

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Jürgen Engel (2014)

Jürgen Engel (born March 15, 1935 in Berlin ) is a German- born Swiss chemist and biophysicist .

Life

Jürgen Engel is a professor emeritus for biophysical chemistry . After studying chemistry , he received his doctorate in 1962 at the Max Planck Institute for Protein and Leather Research in Munich . This was followed by a stay as a visiting scientist at the Weizmann Institute in Israel . From 1965 to 1966 Engel worked with Manfred Eigen , Nobel Prize Winner for Chemistry, at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen and then as a research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Protein and Leather Research. From 1972 until his retirement in 2004, Engel researched and taught in the Department of Biophysical Chemistry at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel . He was chairman of the institution and dean of the natural science faculty for two years. After his retirement at the Biozentrum, he works in the research department of the Shriners Hospital for Children in Portland , Oregon .

Act

Jürgen Engel focused on the extracellular matrix as well as adhesion and receptor proteins on the cell surface , which play an important role in cell communication. He was able to use physical methods such as circular dichroism , X-ray crystallography , nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and electron microscopy to elucidate the function, structure and dynamics of collagens , laminins and other matrix proteins . His group succeeded in clarifying the mechanisms with which the α-helical coiled-coil domains of laminin connect three chains and mediate the association of the neuronal protein Agrin. A channel-forming five-strand coiled-coil domain was found for the matrix protein COMP. The folding of the collagen triple helix as well as the recognition of the correct combination of the three chains is disastrously disrupted in genetic diseases such as osteogenesis imperfecta through mutation . Engel has devoted himself to clarifying this important problem throughout his career. He was also able to elucidate the mechanism of homophilic interaction between the extracellular domains of E-cadherin .

Publications

  • Laminins and other strange proteins. In: Biochemistry. 31 (1992), pp. 10643-10651. PMID 1420180
  • with A. Tomschy, C. Fauser and R. Landwehr: Homophilic adhesion of E-cadherin occurs by a cooperative two step interaction of N-termina domains. In: EMBO J. 15 (1996), pp. 3507-3514. PMID 8670853
  • with VN Malashkevich, RA Kammerer, V. Efimov and T. Schulthess: The crystal structure of a five-stranded coiled-coil in COMP: a prototype ion channel? In: Science. 274: 761-765 (1996). PMID 8864111
  • Versatile collagens in invertebrates. In: Science. 277 (1997), pp. 1785-1786. PMID 9324767
  • with K. Mizuno, S. Boudko and HP Bächinger: Vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome mutations in type III collagen differently stall the triple helical folding. In: J Biol Chem. 288 (2013), pp. 19166-19176. PMID 23645670
  • Biophysics - the physical approach to biological problems. In: Physics Journal. 41, 1985, pp. 327-328, doi: 10.1002 / phbl.19850411003 .
  • with Ueli Aebi (Ed.): Cytoskeletal and Extracellular Proteins: Structure, Interactions and Assembly The 2nd International EBSA Symposium. (= Springer Series in Biophysics. 3). Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 1989, ISBN 3-642-73925-3 .
  • "A Critical Survey of Biomineralization." In: "Springer Briefs in Applied Science and Technology 2017, ISBN 978-3-319-47710-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Emeriti, Biozentrum Universität Basel biozentrum.unibas.ch. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
  2. ↑ Personal homepage unibas.ch. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
  3. ↑ Projects, Personal Homepage unibas.ch. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Engel, Jürgen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss chemist and biophysicist
DATE OF BIRTH March 15, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin