Research Training Group “Bioactive Peptides – Innovative Aspects of Synthesis and Biosynthesis” approved by DFG

The Research Training Group receives funding of approximately EUR 4.5 million over a period of four and a half years from 1 April 2019 until 30 September 2023. The Research Training Group will conduct research in the areas of molecular biology, biochemistry, biological chemistry and bioanalytics.

Spokesperson will be Professor Roderich Süssmuth, Rudolf Wiechert Professor of Biological Chemistry at TU Berlin since 2004 and head of the Biological Chemistry department.

In biological chemistry, biochemistry and medicinal research, natural and synthetic peptides play a significant role in the development of tools, as products of novel biosynthetic pathways and as binding partners for molecular target structures in drug search. The various functions of peptides are in large determined by their partially complex molecular structure and their spatial folding. Research on these characteristics will form an essential part of the Research Training Group’s work. The investigation of mechanisms of biosynthesis and their modes of actions with biological target structures represent further challenges of modern peptide research. These complex issues form the central focus of the new “Bioactive Peptides” Research Training Group.

Doctoral students participating in the Research Training Group will focus on peptide research via a didactically structured curriculum based on a thorough and interdisciplinary approach. The curriculum’s areas of focus are molecular biology/biochemistry, synthetic chemistry, and bioanalytics/ structural biology. “In recent years peptide research has achieved a particular importance in academic and industrial research. Consequently, there is a growing need for knowledgeable researchers with excellent academic backgrounds who understand and can speak the language of other disciplines,” Professor Süssmuth explains.

In addition to TU Berlin, the participating institutions in the Research Training Group are Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, University Potsdam and the Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) in Berlin-Buch. The teaching staff will be supplemented by contributions from internationally renowned peptide researchers from academia and industry. High-profile senior scientists will act as advisers within the Research Training Group. Professor Süssmuth sees the undertaking overall as a sustainable project which all participating research groups look forward to being involved in.

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