News Archive
Date: June 2024
International reinforcement for our team:
We are delighted to welcome Xueyu Li to our team. He earned his master’s degree in Surgery in China, where three years of clinical practice and laboratory experience during his medical studies solidified his passion for scientific exploration. He joined us in June 2024. He will focus on investigating the pathophysiological consequences of ADAM10-mediated membrane protein proteolysis in podocytes.
Date: May 2024
Interview about working in research compared to everyday clinical practice:
Prof. Dr. Meyer-Schwesinger gave an interview to the Deutsches Ärtzeblatt - ÄRZTESTELLEN about her day-to-day work in research and her motivation to invest a lot of time in researching the mechanisms of protein degradation, particularly in kidney diseases.
Please read the full interview: Experimentelle Medizin – eine Alternative zum Klinikalltag? (in german).
Date: May 2024
Annual Meeting of ISEV in Melbourne, Australia:
Annual Meeting of ISEV in Melbourne, Australia:
Our PhD student Karen Lahme presented a poster at the Annual meeting of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles in Melbourne, Australia with the title: "Podocyte-derived urinary extracellular vesicles in membranous nephropathy" and answered the upcoming questions of the audience. The meeting (8-12 May, 2024) is the premier scientific conference in the field of extracellular vesicles.
Date: April 2024
Our team is gowing again:
Vincent Böttcher-Dierks has recently joined our lab with a background in anatomy and histology tutoring at UKE. He studies medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and has reached his 5th semester. His project is focused on Podocyte injury in membranous nephropathy. In addition to his scientific pursuits, Vincent is also a painter with passion for art. We’re happy to have him in our team.
Date: October 2023
Congress of Nephrology 2023:
The next congress is coming up and we look forward to inspiring conversations with you. Meet us in Berlin at the DGFN (October 2023, 5th-8th) at the Estrel Congress Center Berlin. We present two posters: “Renal compartment-specific proteasome alterations in a murine type-2 diabetes model” by our PhDs students Lukas Blume and Man Wang (poster session Diabetes, P072) as well as „Protein analysis and activity-based protein profiling in human extracellular vesicles“ by our PhD students Sarah Frömbling and Karen Lahme (poster session Experimental Nephrology 2, P269).
Date: September 2023
Annual Meeting of the German Physiological Society in Berlin:
Please meet us at the 102nd Annual Meeting of the German Physiological Society in Berlin (21. – 23.09.2023). Don't miss the talk “Renal compartment-specific proteasome alterations in a murine type-2 diabetes model” by our our PhDs students Lukas Blume and Man Wang (OS 02-01; Thursday, 21 September, 2023, 3:00 PM - 4:45 PM Lecture Hall B) and the updated poster „Protein analysis and activity-based protein profiling in human extracellular vesicles“ by our PhD students Sarah Frömbling and Karen Lahme (B 06-05, Friday, 22 September, 2023, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM). We are looking forward to interesting discussions with the other participants.
Date: June 2023
New medical student:
We warmly welcome Antonia Sgries, an eighth-year medical student, who joined our team in May. After graduating from high school, she traveled through New Zealand and South America, before starting her medical studies at UKE. In her project, she will further explore the cellular responses and pathogenesis of membranous nephropathy and will focus firstly on confocal microscopy.
Date: May 2023
14th Biennial International Podocyte Meeting:
At the 14th Biennial International Podocyte Conference (May 24-26, 2023 in Philadelphia, PA, USA) Professor Meyer-Schwesinger informed about the following topic: „Proteasomal processivity influences the activity of Podocytes“ and had a stimulating exchange with other scientists. Her succesful research in this field is documented in many publications.
Date: May 2023
ISEV Annual Meeting in Seattle:
The ISEV Annual Meeting is the premier scientific conference in the field of extracellular vesicles (17-21 May in Seattle, Washington, USA). Our PhD students Sarah Frömbling and Karen Lahme presented a poster „Protein analysis and activity-based protein profiling in human extracellular vesicles“ and took the opportunity to meet other experts in the field of extracellular vesicles.
Date: November 2022
ASN 2022 in Orlando:
We had a very fruitful Kidney Week this year with posters (e.g. Proteasomal Processivity Influences the Endocytic Activity of Glomerular Cells) and a good scientific exchange with other participants of the congress.
Please contact us for further information or questions.
Date: October 2022
Newcomer to the lab:
A new medical student joined us in October: Yasmin Spiegel is in her fourth year. After graduating from high School she first went into Computer science before she started to study medicine. In her project she is going to investigate the role of lysosomal dysfunction in experimental THSD7A associated membranous nephropathy. We are very happy to have her in our team.
Date: October 2022
DGFN 2022 in Berlin:
It was wonderful to meet you all in Berlin:
Catherine Meyer-Schwesinger inspired the young scientists at "Best of Junge Niere" in her talk: "State-of-the-art in science" and gave an overview at "From bench to bedside - Glomerulosclerosis" about the results in research with experimental glomerulonephritis.
Futher the following posters were presented at the conference:
- Glomerular proteasomal activity is impaired in a mouse model of Type 2 diabetes
- Potential of urinary extracellular vesicles in the display of podocyte injury
- The Immunoproteasome Determines the Fate of Essential Podocyte Proteins in Membranous Nephropathy
Please contact us for further information or questions.
Date: October 2022
New team member:
We are happy to welcome Alina Kramer, a medical student in her third year. After graduating from high school she did a voluntary social year at the Israeli hospital in Hamburg. She is going to further investigate the role of the proteasom in membranous nephropathy in order to gain new insights in protein homeostasis in this disease.
Date: January 2022
New 3R-Project
Our post doc Dr. rer. nat Desiree Loreth and our colleague Dr. Helga Vitzthum at the Institute of Cellular and Integrative Physiology have applied successfully for a 3R research funding project at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. For two years and with 100.000€ funding they are investigating if organculture of porcine kidneys can help to explain disease mechanism of human kidneys in order to replace in-vivo animal experiments.
Date: October 2021
Our team is growing again:
We welcome Kaan Basar as our new medical student. After his graduation from high school in Hamburg 2017 he worked as a social volunteer in Italy before he started to study medicine at the UKE in 2018. Being in his fourth year now he is going to investigate in his year at our lab different aspects of THSD7A and membranous nephropathy.
Date: October 2021
Don't miss our newest publication in JASN:
Tripartite separation of glomerular cell-types and proteomes from reporter-free mice.
The key messages:
1) A tripartite isolation method for mesangial, endothelial and podocyte cell-types from reporter-free mice.
2) Generation of bulk cell-type samples and primary co-cultures for biochemical and protein-based analyses.
3) Strain and transgene-dependent expression of proteins among glomerular cell-types, including protein profiles, intra-glomerular communication machineries, and reporter-dependent artefacts.
4) Disease specific time-resolved resolution of glomerular cell-type’s response to injury.
Date: October 2021
Two Awards at the DGFN congress 2021:
Great success: Our PhD student Karen Lahme and our medical student Gilliana Gloede received a prize for their excellent poster at the DGFN (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nephrologie e.V. /German Society of Nephrology) congress in Rostock with the topic: “Urinary extracellular vesicles mirror the glomerular proteostasis”.
The award for the best abstract went to our postdoc Dr. rer. nat. Wiebke Sachs with the title „The proteasomal degradation system plays a prominent role in glomerular filtration barrier function“.
Date: September 2021
New lab technician:
We are delighted to welcome our new team member Melissa Aksoy who supports our lab since mid of September. After graduating from high school she completed a volunteer year as first aid trainee/paramedic. Afterwards she went on a work and travel programm in Australia. Back in Germany she started an apprenticeship at the School of Life Science to become a lab technician which she accomplished this summer.
Date: September 2021
Let’s meet at the DGFN 2021 in Rostock, Germany:
Get to know our remarkable results in our research field protein homeostasis with focus on protein degradation:
Our group leader Prof. Dr. Catherine Meyer-Schwesinger is having a presentation on Friday, September 24th, 2021, 16:55 - 17:20 p.m with the title „Proteostatic systems in glomerulonephritis“ in the session „Immun-mediated glomerular diseases“.
She is also going to moderate on Friday, September 24th, 2021, 14:15 - 15:30 p.m the poster session „Experimental Nephrology III“ and on Saturday 25th, 2021, 16:30-17:45 p.m. the session „Renoprotection“.
See our results visualized on our four interesting posters:
• “ Glomerular proteasomal activity is impaired in a mouse model of Type 2 diabetes” (P089)
• “ The proteasomal degradation system plays a prominent role in glomerular filtration barrier function” (P151)
• “ Role of urinary extracellular vesicles in the display of podocyte injury in MN” (P174)
• “ Role of Ubiquitin C-Terminal Hydrolase (UCH-L1) in vesicular trafficking in podocytes” (P215)
We are looking forward to a lively discussion with you!
Date: April 2021
New medical student:
We are very happy that Clarissa Viehmann, a medical student in her third year, has joint us in April. She already got first insights in research during her year in UK attending Sixth Form focusing on Life Sciences. At our lab she will further investigate the role of lysosomal degradation und proteasomal degradation of proteins in glomerulonephritis.
Date: March 2021
Our team is becoming international:
We welcome Man Wang. She completed her Master Degree on Internal medicine in China. As a medical student, three-year clinical practice increased her knowledge about management of diabetic nephropathy. She joined us in March 2021. With her expertise in clinical medicine, she will contribute to investigate the role of UPS in the diabetic nephropathy.
Date: January 2021
We welcome a new team member:
Desiree Loreth did her PhD in Freiburg on characterising a mouse model for Alzheimer's disease, increased her knowledge about neurodegeneration afterwards. After working in the field of brain metastasis development in the Institute of Tumorbiology, she joined us in December 2020. With her expertise in neuroscience, she will contribute to investigate the role of UCH-L1 in the brain.
Date: October 2020
Our team is growing:
Two new mediacal students joined us in October:
After Gilliana Gloede graduated high school, she got an education as EMT and worked for a rescue and emergency medical service before starting to study medicine at the University of Hamburg in 2016. Christopher Kosub is a medical student in his 9th semester also at the university of Hamburg. Both are going to investigate different aspects of membranous nephropathy.
Date: October 2020
Highlight at the DGFN congress 2020:
We are very happy and proud: Our PhD student Karen Lahme and our medical student Kian Deheshwar received a prize for their outstanding poster at the DGFN (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nephrologie e.V. /German Society of Nephrology) congress in Berlin with the topic: “Urinary extracellular vesicles mirror the glomerular proteostasis”.
Date: October 2020
Meet our lab team at the DGFN 2020 in Berlin/online:
Catherine Meyer-Schwesinger is going to moderate the plenary lecture 3 with T. Benzing: "Single Cell Approaches in Medicine" by N. Rajewsky (Berlin) on Saturday, October 3rd, 2020, 09:45 - 10:15 a.m..
The following posters are awaiting you on Saturday, October 3rd, 2020, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.:
• “Urinary extracellular vesicles mirror the glomerular proteostasis” (P206)
• “ADAM10-mediated ectodomain shedding is an essential driver of podocyte damage” (P212)
• “Investigations of the role of ubiquitin ligase 3A in the turnover of the podocyte surface antigen THSD7A in membranous nephropathy” (P213)
And we are very proud and happy that our dear colleague Dr. rer. nat. Wiebke Sachs will receive the doctoral award (Rainer-Greger-Promotionspreis) for her doctoral thesis "Characterization of the physiological and pathophysiological role of the proteasome in glomerular cells" on Saturday, October 3rd, 2020 10:15 - 10:30.
We are looking forward to a lively discussion with you!
Date: August 2020
Don't miss our new publication in JASN:
In a cell organelle called the lysosome cellular material is degraded via lysosomal enzymes. The lysosomal storage disorders mucolipidosis (ML) type II and III are caused by the missorting of lysosomal enzymes to the extracellular space instead of to the lysosomes. MLII and MLIII exhibit different disease severity. Patients with MLII exhibit severe lysosomal dysfunction resulting in multisystemic symptoms and early death, while MLIII patients exhibit moderate lysosomal dysfunction resulting in an attenuated clinical progression. In a few ML cases renal involvement has been described leading to the question whether this was coincidental or the result of lysosomal dysfunction.
To investigate the effect of lysosomal dysfunction on glomerular cells a MLII mouse model was generated and validated as well as compared to an established MLIII model. Both, MLII and MLIII mice, showed enlarged lysosomes in renal cells while renal morphology and function remained normal. The dysfunctional lysosomal degradation was distinctly compensated in MLII and MLIII mice. The lysosomal dysfunction in MLIII mice was compensated by enhancing the proteasomal protein degradation system, whereas MLII mice compensated the dysfunctional lysosomal protein degradation by the downregulation of protein synthesis.
Date: July 2020
Our team is growing further:
Lisa Schebsdat joined us in March after finishing her 9th semester at the university of Hamburg. In the following year she will have a closer look into the activity of the proteasome and immunoproteasome in renal diseases, especially the membranous nephropathy. In order to do so, she will work with activity-based probes, generated by scientists of the university in Leiden, NL.
Date: March 2020
And two more - our newest scientific PhD students:
We are happy that our team is growing further:
Lukas Heintz studied biochemistry and molecular biology. During his master's thesis at Kiel university he worked on (metallo)proteases and established CRISPR-based techniques of endogenous tagging. Now he will start working on the differential role of the immuno-proteasome in glomerular cells.
Sarah Frömbling finished her master's thesis as well at the university of Kiel. She worked on the optogenetic manipulation of second messenger levels in the intestine of the fruit fly to evaluate the associated host microbe homeostasis. On her PhD project she will investigate the role of UCH-L1 in membranous nephropathy.
Date: January 2020
We are happy to welcome a new scientific PhD student:
We are happy to welcome our new scientific PhD student Karen Lahme who joined us after her master studies in biology at the university in Brunswick (Braunschweig). In her master thesis she investigated the Influence of Willebrand factor on the adherence of pneumococci. In the upcoming years she is going to work on her PhD project on the differential influence of the proteasome and lysosome system in glomerular cell injury.