For general inquiries, please visit our contact page.
Links:
UKB
Google Scholar
ORCID
LinkedIn
Bluesky
Joined the Team:
01/2022
Research Topic:
ribosomes, translation regulation, RNA biology, innate immunity, developmental biology
Kathrin received her B.Sc. in Biology and M.Sc. in Molecular Biosciences from University of Heidelberg, Germany, and her doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) from University of Heidelberg (DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance) working at the Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH). She completed her Ph.D. in Georg Stoecklin’s lab at DKFZ and ZMBH at Heidelberg University, where she discovered a class of functional mRNA structures that interact with Roquin RNA-binding proteins for mRNA decay of mRNAs encoding innate immune regulators in macrophages. As a postdoctoral fellow with Maria Barna at Stanford University, USA, she discovered a new mode of gene regulation by which ribosomal RNA (rRNA) regions exposed on the outer shell of the ribosome bind to specific transcripts to control selective mRNA- and species-specific translation in the mouse embryo. Kathrin’s lab studies how the ribosome directly regulates gene expression, particularly in the innate immune response of macrophages. The lab combines innovative RNA biochemistry and RNA-based technology development with model systems ranging from yeast to mouse and human macrophages. Ultimately, the lab aims to decipher how rRNA-directed selective translation shapes gene expression and to understand the role of the ribosome in innate immune responses. Kathrin is the recipient of postdoctoral fellowships from Katharine McCormick, Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, and EMBO, as well as the Karl-Lohmann Award and the Ruprecht-Karls Award for best Ph.D. thesis (2014), the RNA Society Scaringe Award (2021), and an HFSP Early Career Award (2023).
Fun Fact:
I cannot correctly type “structure” on the first try. And I’m a triplet.
Off the bench:
Since learning at age 3 from my grandpa, the hobby that’s left is tennis.