Project 08

Quantitative super-resolution microscopy unravels nanoscale patterns of membrane receptor networks

Principle Investigator: Prof. Dr. Mike Heilemann

Research Areas: Structural cell biology

Summary

We investigate the structure-function relationships of membrane-associated protein assemblies in the natural environment of a cell. We decipher the composition of multiprotein membrane receptor complexes which build active signaling platforms and characterize protein-protein interactions that regulate information transmission. To this end, we employ super-resolution optical microscopy methods to visualize the structural organization and to quantify the composition of multiprotein assemblies at the plasma membrane of cells. We will capture the assembly dynamics in living cells.

Prof. Dr. Mike Heilemann

Steering Board of the CRC 1507

Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

Goethe University, Frankfurt

Website

P08: PROJECT-RELATED PUBLICATIONS

  1. Li Y, Niemann HH, Barth HD, Dietz MS, Heilemann M* (2025) Single-molecule FRET-tracking of InlB-activated MET receptor in living cells. bioRxiv 2025.05.06.652421
  2. Catapano C, Dietz MS, Kompa J, Jang S, Freund P, Johnsson K, Heilemann M* (2025) Long-term single-molecule tracking in living cells using weak-affinity protein labeling. Angew Chem Int Ed 64: e202413117
  3. Li Y, Arghittu SM, Dietz MS, Hella GJ, Haße D, Ferraris DM, Freund P, Barth HD, Kamele L, de Jonge H, Niemann HH, Covino R*, Heilemann M* (2024) Single-molecule imaging and molecular dynamics simulations reveal early activation of the MET receptor in cells. Nat Comm 15(1): 9486
  4. Mineev KS, Hargittay B, Jin J, Catapano C, Dietz MS, Segarra M, Harwardt MS, Richter C, Jonker HRA, Saxena K, Sreeramulu S, Heilemann M, Acker-Palmer A, Schwalbe H* (2024) Differential effects of the N-terminal helix of FGF8b on the activity of a small-molecule FGFR inhibitor in cell culture and for the extracellular domain of FGFR3c in solution. FEBS Lett 598: 2518-2532
  5. Kessler LF, Balakrishnan A, Menche T, Wang D, Li Y, Mantel M, Glogger M, Dietz MS, Heilemann M* (2024) Self-quenched fluorophore-DNA labels for super-resolution fluorescence microscopy. J Phys Chem B 128: 6751-6759
  6. Abraham BG, Haikarainen T, Vuorio J, Girych M, Virtanen AT, Kurttila A, Karathanasis C, Heilemann M, Sharma V, Vattulainen I, Silvennoinen O (2024) Molecular basis of JAK2 activation in erythropoietin receptor and pathogenic JAK2 signaling. Sci Adv 10: eadl2097
  7. Betsennaia E, Maslov I, Balandin T, Alekseev A, Yudenko A, Abu Shamseye A, Zabelskii D, Baumann A, Catapano C, Karathanasis C, Gordeliy V, Heilemann M, Gensch T*, Borshchevskiy V* (2024) Revealing the oligomerization of channelrhodopsin-2 in the cell membrane using photo-activated localization microscopy. Angew Chem Int Ed 63: e202307555
  8. Kessler LF, Balakrishnan A, Deußner-Helfmann NS, Li Y, Mantel M, Glogger M, Barth HD, Dietz MS, Heilemann M* (2023) Self-quenched fluorophore dimers for DNA-PAINT and STED microscopy. Angew Chem Int Ed 62: e202307555
  9. Catapano C, Rahm JV, Omer M, Teodori L, Kjems J, Dietz MS, Heilemann M* (2023) Biased activation of the receptor tyrosine kinase HER2. Cell Mol Life Sci 80: 158
  10. Albertazzi L, Heilemann M* (2023) When weak is strong: A plea for low-affinity binders for optical microscopy. Angew Chem Int Ed 62: e202303390