Priv.-Doz. Marion Schmidt-Zachmann, Ph.D.
Position:
Group Leader
Affiliation:
Molecular Hematology/Oncology
Contact:
Phone:
+49 6221 42 1445
Fax:
+49 6221 42 1444
Building:
INF 581/TP 4
Room:
S4.108
Education:
2000 Habilitation, venia legendi for Cell Biology (PD) at the University of Heidelberg
1989 Doctoral thesis (PhD) at the University of Heidelberg
1985 Diploma at the University of Heidelberg
1979-1985 Studies of Biology at the University of Heidelberg
1979 Biological Research Technician at the Technical School for Natural Science, Landau
Research Experience:
since2008 Project-Group leader at the German Cancer Research Center, Clinical Cooperation Unit for Molecular Hematology/Oncology.
1993-2007 Senior Scientist at the German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Department for Cell Biology
1991-1993 Postdoc at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research, Lausanne
1989-1991 Postdoc at the German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Department for Cell Biology
Since 1998 Member of the International Committee of the European Workshop on the Cell Nucleus (Wilhelm Bernhard Workshop); 1999-2001 Elected manager of the German Society for Cell Biology (DGZ); 1991-1993 Long-Term EMBO Fellowship
Selected publications:
Ge W, Wolf A, Feng T, Ho CH, Sekirnik R, Zayer A, Granatino N, Cockman ME, Loenarz C, Loik ND, Hardy AP, Claridge TD, Hamed RB, Chowdhury R, Gong L, Robinson CV, Trudgian DC, Jiang M, Mackeen MM, McCullagh JS, Gordiyenko Y, Thalhammer A, Yamamoto A, Yang M, Liu-Yi P, Zhang Z, Schmidt-Zachmann M, Kessler BM, Ratcliffe PJ, Preston GM, Coleman ML, Schofield CJ. (2012). Oxygenase-catalyzed ribosome hydroxylation occurs in prokaryotes and humans. Nat Chem Biol. 8(12):960-2.
Voltmer-Irsch, S., Kneissel, S., Adenot, P., Schmidt-Zachmann, M.S. (2007). Regulatory mechanisms governing the oocyte-specific synthesis of the karyoskeletal protein NO145.
J. Cell Sci. 120, 1412-1422.
Isono, K., Mizutani-Koseki, Y., Komori, T., Schmidt-Zachmann, M.S., Koseki, H. (2005). Mammalian polycomb-mediated repression of Hox genes requires the essential spliceosomal protein Sf3b1. Genes Dev. 19, 536-541.
Eilbracht, J., Kneissel, S., Hofmann, A., Schmidt-Zachmann, M.S. (2005). Protein NO52 – a constitutive nucleolar component sharing high sequence homologies to protein NO66.
Eur. J. Cell Biol. 84, 279-294.
Namboodiri, V.M, Schmidt-Zachmann M.S., Head J.F., Akey C.W. (2004). Purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of the N-terminal domain of NO38, a nucleolar protein from Xenopus laevis. Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr. 60, 2325-2327.
Namboodiri, V.M, Akey I.V., Schmidt-Zachmann M.S., Head J.F., Akey, C.W. (2004). The structure and function of Xenopus NO38-core, a histone chaperone in the nucleolus.
Structure 12, 2149-2160.
Eilbracht, J., Reichenzeller, M., Hergt,M., Schnölzer, M., Heid, H., Stöhr, M., Franke, W.W., Schmidt-Zachmann, M.S. (2004). NO66, a highly conserved dual location protein in the nucleolus and in a special type of synchronously replicating chromatin. Mol Biol Cell 15, 1816-1832.
Kneissel, S., Franke, W.W., Gall, J.G., Heid, H., Reidenbach, S., Schnölzer, M., Spring, H., Zentgraf, HW., Schmidt-Zachmann, M.S. (2001). A novel karyoskeletal protein: Characterization of protein NO145, the major component of nucleolar cortical skeleton in Xenopus oocytes. Mol Biol. Cell 12, 3904-3918
Eilbracht, J., Schmidt-Zachmann, M.S. (2001). Identification of a sequence element directing a protein to nuclear speckles. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98, 3849-3854. Zirwes, R., Eilbracht, J., Kneissel, S., Schmidt-Zachmann, M.S. (2000). A novel helicase-type protein in the nucleolus: Protein NOH61. Mol. Biol. Cell 11, 1153-1167
Project: Functional characterization of nucleolar proteins and their roles in hematological malignancies
The identification of histone lysine demethylases (KDMs) including proteins containing a jumonji (JmjC)-domain has provided strong evidence that the modification of histones is dynamically regulated and plays a major role in the activation/deactivation of target genes.
The two nucleolar proteins NO52 and NO66 are members of the JmjC-protein family. Over the years diverse functions have been ascribed to these enzymes, e.g. in the process of ribosome biogenesis, gene transcription, proliferation and cell cycle progression. However, their precise functions are still unknown. We are performing overexpression as well as knockdown experiments to obtain new insights into the biological role(s) of these multifunctional epigenetic modifiers. Moreover, we determined changes in gene expression caused by overexpression of NO52/NO66 in U2OS cells.
Upregulation of NO52/NO66 has been documented in some human cancers, indicating that these proteins may play a crucial role in tumorigenesis. We started to study the potential correlation between the expression of these proteins and cellular chemoresistance.
Since epigenetic dysfunctions seem to have a central role in the pathology of myeloid malignancies, we investigate the expression level of NO52/NO66 in various human leukemia cell lines as well as patient material in order to explore the relevance of these proteins as potential prognostic biomarkers for the development and/or manifestation of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
The International PhD Program at DKFZ
Candidates from Germany and abroad who are interested in a PhD are encouraged to apply to the International PhD Program of the DKFZ. The program provides interdisciplinary training and research opportunities in the field of Biology and Cancer Research:
Helmholtz International Graduate School for Cancer Research
Teaching
Seminar at the Faculty for Biosciences organized together with PD Dr. Renate Voit/ Molecular Biology of the Cell II:
Meilensteine in der Zell- und Molekuarbiologie – der Weg zum Nobelpreis
Milestones in Cell- and Molecular Biology
Themengebiete/Topics:
· Kontrolle des Zellzyklus/Control mechanisms of the cell cycle (Hunt, Nurse, Hartwell 2001)
· GFP/Green FluorescenceProtein (Tsien, Shimomura, Chalfie 2008)
· RNA-Interferenz/RNA Interference (Fire, Mello 2006)
· Telomere/Telomeres (Blackburn, Szostak, Greider 2009)
· Viren und Krebs/Viral infection and Cancer (zur Hausen, Montagnier 2008)
· Stammzellen/Stem cells (Gurdon, Yamanaka 2012)
· Intrazellularer Transport /Intracellulartransport (Blobel 1999)
· Genetische Regulierung der Organentwicklung/Apoptose/ Genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death (Brenner, Horvitz, Sulston 2002)
· Struktur und Funktion des Ribosoms/Structure and function of the ribosome (Ramakrishnan, Steitz, 2009)
· Gentranskription in eukaryontischen Zellen/Gene transcription in eukaryotic cells (Kornberg, 2006)
· Ubiquitin-gesteuerter Protein Abbau/ Ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation (Ciechanover, Hershko, Rose 2004)
Students are welcome to contact Marion Schmidt-Zachmann regarding opportunities to do a practical, a bachelor or a master thesis.