The knowledge of the complete genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis provides an outstanding opportunity to systematically image the protein components associated and ligand complexes at near atomic resolution. M. tuberculosis targets, primarily determined using X-ray crystallography at EMBL-Hamburg, can be basically divided in three categories: function known, function can be predicted, function unknown. Therefore, there is a major challenge to complement structural data with functional data, based on purified proteins, in mycobacterial cultures, cell cultures and animal models.
Matthias Wilmanns (*1959) is head of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) unit Hamburg. After receiving his PhD in 1990 at the university of Basel, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow (DFG and EMBO) at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the EMBL in Heidelberg. Since 1996 he is EMBL Senior Scientist in Hamburg. Dr. Wilmanns is member of several committees and advisory boards, including the HZI (Braunschweig), SOLEIL (Saint Aubin) and the Committee Research with Synchrotron Radiation.
Moderation: Professor Dr. Michael Hecker