Johannes M. Herrmann

Biography

1986 - 1992 Biology at the Universities of Bayreuth and Tübingen 1992 - 1996 PhD student in the laboratory of Walter Neupert at the Department of Physiological Chemistry in Munich 1996 - 1998 Postdoc in the laboratory of Randy Schekman at the University of California in Berkeley, USA 1999 - 2006 Group leader (wissenschaftlicher Assistent) in the Department of Physiological Chemistry at the Adolf-Butenandt Institute in Munich 2006 - Arnold Sommerfeld Award of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences since 2006 - Professor of Cell Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Kaiserslautern. Head of the Department 2008 - Personal Teaching Award, Rheinland-Pfalz Feb 2009 - Feb 2012 Dean of the Biological Faculty 2010 - Award for Excellent Teaching in Rheinland-Pfalz 2011 - FEBS National Lecture Award, Brussels since 2011 - Spokesperson of the GBM studygroup Redox Biology since 2015 - Vice President of the GBM Membership on Editorial Boards of BBA-General Topics, of Biological Chemistry, and Microbial Cell

Research Interest

One main focus of our group is the biogenesis of proteins of the mitochondrial inner membrane which belongs to the protein-richest membranes of the eukaryotic cell. The inner membrane accommodates a large number of different integral membrane proteins which, typically assembled in multiprotein complexes, perform a variety of functions like the transport of molecules or generation of ATP. We analyze how these proteins are inserted into the inner membrane, and especially focus on the membrane integration and assembly of mitochondrial translation products. The second aspect of our research addresses the biogenesis of proteins of the intermembrane space of mitochondria. This compartment contains factors which are essential for energy metabolism, metabolite and protein transport or apoptosis. Several of these proteins contain cysteine residues which are oxidized in the intermembrane space forming intramolecular disulfide bridges. We characterize the machinery which catalyses protein oxidation and analyse its relevance in vitro and in vivo.