Vanderbilt, Leipzig research collaboration sees strong results

Vanderbilt, Leipzig research collaboration sees strong results

written by Matt Windsor: During the past two weeks, the fifth international symposium between Leipzig and Vanderbilt universities was held on the Vanderbilt campus, as seven Leipzig faculty members presented a series of chemical biology-related lectures. The symposium offered an opportunity to highlight the ongoing success of the international collaboration. To date, there have been 17 joint publications between research groups at the two universities. This summer, the first federally funded research grant resulting from the collaboration was awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The project is aimed at developing drugs for a specific type of protein known as a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). The grant was spearheaded by

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Workshop at VU: Mass Spectrometry based methods for protein structure analysis

by Dr. Stefan Kalkhof, Prof. Dr. Martin von Bergen and Prof. Dr. John McLean: In an one-week curse 30 PhD students and postdocs of the Vanderbilt University were introduced to modern mass spectrometry methods and recent technical developments. The participants were made familiar with the theory of H/D exchange, ion mobility, chemical crosslinking, and labeling techniques using chemicals or radicals. Furthermore, to give the participants a better feeling concerning the potential as well as advantages, experimental challenges, and limitations many own projects and experimental protocols were presented and critically discussed. Finally, a session was used to discuss how one could practically utilize the techniques to answer current questions of participant`s projects.

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Vanderbilt Undergraduate Student in Leipzig

by Hannah Berke (undergraduate student at Vanderbilt University): My two months spent in Leipzig were a wonderful experience. The work in the lab was informative and enjoyable and living in Leipzig changed my life. My stay in Leipzig was extremely fun and gave me the opportunity to travel and experience Europe and Germany specifically. The city itself is a perfect size, very similar to Nashville, and I lived in an area that was about a 5 minute tram ride or 20 minute walk from the city center, or “Mitte,” that is full of shops and restaurants. The abundance of parks and cafes made it easy to spend time outside – barbecuing,

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