Prof. Dr. Franz Hagn
Academic Career and Research Areas
Prof. Hagn's (*1977) research is focused on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of membrane proteins. This protein class is essential for signal transduction and the transfer of proteins and small molecules across the biological membrane barrier. The key to understanding these processes is to study these systems in a native environment provided by a phospholipid bilayer. Biologically relevant systems of interest are membrane proteins in mitochondria and chloroplasts, characterization of the dynamical aspects of intramembrane proteolysis, and G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) and their associated G-proteins, which are involved in metabolic diseases, neurological disorders and cancer.
Prof. Hagn studied biochemistry at Bayreuth and Stockholm and received his doctorate from TUM for a thesis on structural and functional studies of molecular chaperones, tumorsuppressor and spider silk proteins. After a short postdoctoral stay at TUM, he went to Harvard Medical School in 2010. In 2014, he accepted a Rudolf Mößbauer assistant professorship at the TUM Institute for Advanced Study and has been a group leader in structural biology at the Helmholtz Zentrum München since 2015.
Awards
- Helmholtz Young Investigators‘ Group (2015)
- Arnold Sommerfeld of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (2012)
- Friedrich-Weygand Award oft he Max-Bergmann Kreis for Peptide Chemistry (2011)
- Hans-Fischer Award of the Hans-Fischer Society (2011)
- Human Frontier Science Program Long-Term Fellowship (2011)
Key Publications (all publications)
Günsel U, Klöpfer K, Häusler E, Hitzenberger M, Bölter B, Sperl LE, Zacharias M, Soll J, Hagn F: „Structural basis of metabolite transport by the chloroplast outer envelope channel OEP21”, Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2023; 30:761-769.
AbstractGünsel U and Hagn F: „Lipid nanodiscs for high-resolution NMR studies of membrane proteins“. Chem Rev. 2022; 122(10): 9395-9421.
AbstractSperl LE, Rührnößl F, Schiller A, Haslbeck M, Hagn F: „High-resolution analysis of the conformational transition of pro-apoptotic Bak at the lipid membrane“. EMBO J. 2021; e107159.
AbstractSteiner A, Schlepckow K, Brunner B, Steiner H, Haass C, Hagn F: „g-secretase cleavage of the Alzheimer risk factor TREM2 is determined by its intrinsic structural dynamics“. EMBO J. 2020; e104247.
AbstractGoricanec D, Stehle R, Egloff P, Grigoriu S, Plückthun A, Wagner G, Hagn F: „Conformational dynamics of a G-protein alpha subunit is tightly regulated by nucleotide binding“. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2016; 113: E3629-E3638.
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