Göttingen Graduate Center for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences

Krebber, Heike, Prof. Dr.

Professor for Molecular Genetics


  • 1996 Dr. rer. nat., Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ, Heidelberg (Germany)
  • 1996 Visiting Scientist, Weizman Institute of Science, Rehovot (Israel)
  • 1996-1999 Scientist, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston (USA)
  • 1999-2010 Junior group leader, Institute for Molecular Biology and Tumor Research, Philipps-Universität Marburg (Germany)
  • 2005 Habilitation in Molecular Biology
  • 2006 Heisenberg Fellow
  • since 2010 Professor for Molecular Genetics, Georg-August Universität Göttingen (Germany)



Major Research Interests

mRNA quality control:
Messenger RNAs are transcribed in the nucleus and translated in the cytoplasm. Thus, it has to be assured that intron containing pre messenger RNAs are retained in the nucleus until processing is completed. RNA quality control allows only fully processed and spliced mRNAs to be transported and translated. Defects lead to diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Our projects functionally study mRNA quality control.
ncRNA functions:
non coding (nc)RNAs make up more than half of all RNAs in cells. However, the knowledge about their cellular functions lack far behind the knowledge of coding mRNAs. In this project we are investigating the function of individual lncRNAs, e.g. those involved in cellular iron metabolism, important to understand iron-related diseases, or the telomerase, important for the unlimited growth of most cancer cells.
We use the eukaryotic model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae that has proven to be pioneer organism for studying fundamental basic scientific questions.

Homepage Department/Research Group

http://www.img.bio.uni-goettingen.de/molgen.htm



Selected Recent Publications


  • Becker D, Hirsch AG, Bender L, Lingner T, Salinas G and Krebber H (2019) Nuclear pre-snRNA export is an essential quality assurance mechanism for functional spliceosomes. Cell Reports 27: 3199-3214.
  • Beissel C, Neumann B, Uhse S, Hampe I, Karki P and Krebber H (2019) Translation termination depends on the sequential ribosomal entry of eRF1 and eRF3. Nucleic Acids Research. May 21;47(9): 4798-4813.
  • Zander G, Krebber H (2017) Quick or Quality? How mRNAs escapes nuclear quality control during stress. RNA Biology, Jul 14:1-7. doi: 10.1080/15476286.2017.1345835.
  • Zander G, Hackmann A, Bender L, Becker D, Lingner T, Salinas G, Krebber H (2016) mRNA quality control is bypassed for an immediate export of stress responsive transcripts. Nature, 540: 593-596. DOI 10.1038/nature20572.
  • Wu H, Becker D, Krebber H (2014) Telomerase RNA TLC1 shuttling to the cytoplasm requires mRNA export factors and is important for telomere maintenance. Cell Rep. 8: 1-9.
  • Hackmann A, Wu H, Schneider UM, Meyer K, Jung K, Krebber H (2014) Quality control of spliced mRNAs requires the shuttling SR proteins Gbp2 and Hrb1. Nat Commun. 5:3123.
  • Baierlein C, Hackmann A, Gross T, Henker L, Hinz F, Krebber H (2013) Monosome formation during translation initiation requires the serine/arginine-rich protein Npl3. Mol Cell Biol. 33(24):4811-23.
  • Hackmann A, Gross T, Baierlein C, Krebber H (2011) The mRNA export factor Npl3 mediates the nuclear export of large ribosomal subunits. EMBO-Rep. doi: 10.1038/embor.2011.155.
  • Gross T, Siepmann A, Sturm D, Windgassen M, Scarelli J, Cole CN, Seedorf M, Krebber H (2007) The DEAD-box RNA-helicase Dbp5 functions in translation termination. Science, 315 (5812): 646-649.
  • Windgassen M, Sturm D, Cajigas IJ, González CI, Seedorf M, Bastians H Krebber, H. (2004) Yeast shuttling SR-proteins Npl3p, Gbp2p and Hrb1p are part of the translated mRNAs and Npl3p can function as a translational repressor. Mol. Cell. Biol., 24 (23): 10479-10491.
  • Häcker S, Krebber H (2004) Differential export requirements for shuttling SR-type mRNA binding proteins. J. Biol. Chem. 279 (7):5049-5052.
  • Windgassen M, Krebber H (2003) Identification of Gbp2p as a novel poly(A)+RNA binding protein in yeast involved in the cytoplasmic delivery of mRNAs. EMBO Rep. 4 (3): 278-283.