UniSysCat member Prof. Dr. Juri Rappsilber, who is the head of the bioanalytics department at TU Berlin, has been elected a new member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). By the election, Rappsilber's excellent reseach in the field of protein science is recognized.
Since 2011, Rappsilber has been Einstein professor for biotechnology at TU Berlin. He is regarded as a pioneer in protein science: Rappsilber developed a novel method to study proteins using mass spectrometry. The mission of his team is "to develop approaches to study protein structure and interactions in cells and make them universally accessible". One of their goals is to understand protein folding under natural conditions and how proteins associate in larger structures.
Proteins are very complex molecules. As the building blocks of life, they are ubiquitous and extremely diverse. The Rappsilber team studies proteins by mass spectrometry. This means, they destroy the protein molecules and weigh their fragments super precisely. Doing so, the researchers learn more about the composition and the three-dimensional structure of the proteins.
The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional organization of more than 1,800 life scientists aiming at promoting research in life science and enabling international exchange between life scientists. An EMBO membership is a prestigious award.