Field of Research
Biological function is based to a major part on specific interactions between proteins. We investigate the interactions of proteins with other proteins and small molecules like water and co-solvents by means of biophysical and structural techniques. Thereby, we address the mechanism of biological processes (signal transduction) and, in addition, we want to elucidate the quantitative relationship between protein complex structures and the underlying binding energetics. Our main focus lies on specific interactions of small GTP-binding proteins of the Ras subfamily and their effector proteins. Another area of our research is devoted to the mechanism of GTP hydrolysis catalysed by self-assembling large GTPases which we investigate with the help of kinetic methods.