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Charlotte Uetrecht receives W2 Professorship at University of Siegen


Foto by DESY/Marta Meyer

Monday, 04.10.2021

Since October 1, 2021, Charlotte Uetrecht is W2 professor at the University of Siegen. Her research group "Dynamics of Viral Structures" is supported by the HPI in cooperation with DESY. From now on, the research group is located at the Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) in Hamburg-Bahrenfeld. There, she leads a research team that studies the structural dynamics of viral protein complexes.

The former HPI group Dynamics of Viral Structures headed by Charlotte Uetrecht has joined the University of Siegen as of October 1. The HPI, where Charlotte Uetrecht had been a junior research group leader since 2014, will retain her as an associated group.

Charlotte Uetrecht uses mass spectrometry (MS) approaches to investigate the life cycle of human viruses, particularly corona and noroviruses.

At the CSSB, Uetrecht’s group will focus on understanding both the assembly of norovirus particles and replication complexes of coronaviruses. “The molecular machinery involved in the viral lifecycle is extremely dynamic,” explains Uetrecht “we are particularly interested in capturing short-lived or transient states that cannot be purified.” To capture these transient states, the group uses state-of-the-art structural mass spectrometry, an analytical technique that measures the mass-to-charge ratio of ions, and is able to identify how individual proteins shuttle between larger molecular structures. 

After completing her doctorate in Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, Prof. Uetrecht went on to Uppsala University in Sweden and then joined the European XFEL in Germany. Since 2014, she has led the junior research group "Dynamics of Viral Structures" at the HPI. The group is also part of the Leibniz ScienceCampus InterACt.

InterACt congratulates Prof. Charlotte Uetrecht and wishes her much success for the future!