Göttinger Graduiertenzentrum für Neurowissenschaften, Biophysik und Molekulare Biowissenschaften

Zweckstetter, Markus, Prof. Dr.


  • 1990 - 1996 Studies at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Degree: Diploma in Physics (passed with distinction)
  • 1993 - 1994 Studies at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland; Physics and Russian
  • 1996 - 1998 PhD project with Dr. Tad Holak, Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry, Martinsried
  • 1998 Degree Dr. rer. nat., Technical University of Munich
  • 1998 - 1999 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry (Dr. Tad Holak)
  • 1999 - 2001 Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA (group of Dr. A. Bax)
  • since 2001 Head of the senior research group "Structure determination of proteins using NMR" at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen
  • 2001 - 2006 Head of Emmy Noether group at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen
  • 2007 - 2012 Head of Heisenberg group at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen
  • since 2008 Honorary Professor, University of Göttingen
  • Since 2012 Head of the senior research group "Structural Biology in Dementia" at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Göttingen
  • since 2012 Professor at the University Medical School, University of Göttingen, Göttingen



Major Research Interests

The goal of our research is to push NMR spectroscopy into new research areas and to provide insights at the molecular level into the factors that are responsible for the neurotoxicity of the proteins alpha-synuclein, Tau and Amyloid-beta peptide during the course of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, we strive to obtain structure-function relationships for integral membrane proteins, such as the human voltage dependent anion channel.


Homepage Department/Research Group

https://www.mpinat.mpg.de/zweckstetter

http://www.dzne.de/zweckstetter


Selected Recent Publications


  • Yu T, Flores-Solis D, Eastep GN, Becker S, Zweckstetter M (2023) Phosphatidylserine-dependent structure of synaptogyrin remodels the synaptic vesicle membrane. Nat Struct Mol Biol; doi 10.1038/s41594-023-01004-9.

  • Jiang L, Chakraborty P, Zhang L, Wong M, Hill SE, Webber CJ, Libera J, Blair LJ, Wolozin B, Zweckstetter M (2023) Chaperoning of specific tau structure by immunophilin FKBP12 regulates the neuronal resilience to extracellular stress. Sci Adv; 9:eadd9789.

  • Sang D, Shu T, Pantoja CF, Ibáñez de Opakua A, Zweckstetter M, Holt LJ (2022) Condensed-phase signaling can expand kinase specificity and respond to macromolecular crowding. Mol Cell; 19:3693-3711.e10.

  • Ibáñez de Opakua A, Geraets JA, Frieg B, Dienemann C, Savastano A, Rankovic M, Cima-Omori MS, Schröder GF, Zweckstetter M (2022) Molecular interactions of FG nucleoporin repeats at high resolution. Nat Chem; 11:1278-1285.

  • Savastano A, Ibáñez de Opakua A, Rankovic M, Zweckstetter M (2020) Nucleocapsid protein of SARS-CoV-2 phase separates into RNA-rich polymerase-containing condensates. Nat Commun; 11:6041.