Ralser Lab: Biochemistry und Systems Biology of Metabolism
Life runs on thousands of chemical reactions, known collectively as metabolism. This reaction network is highly dynamic, and adapts to many biologically important phenomena, such as ever changing environments, ageing, and cell proliferation. We study regulatory roles of metabolism and how its dynamics are maintained by combining methods of functional genomics with mass spectrometry.
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Research Areas
For a long time, metabolism has been seen as a static series of biochemical reactions. Cellular metabolism is indeed however highly dynamic and adapts to various biological situations, such as ever changing environments, cellular aging or proliferation. These properties draw our attention to the metabolic network, for example, when we think of ways to develop therapies against cancer and neurodegenerative disorders or to understand the aging process. Our reserach is focused on:
- the regulatory functions of the metabolic network
- the maintenance of its dynamics
- the systematic identification of gene-metabolism interactions
- the cooperation of cells to share metabolites
- the evolution of metabolism
- the development of high-throughput metabolomic and proteomic methods
Research Profile
As model organism we often employ the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Working with this single-cellular eukaryote removes some complexity from our investigations, and bias which would result from altered metabolic activity that can be found in mammalian cell culture systems. Furthermore, a plethora of genetic and biochemical techniques is available that allows us to work with up to thousands of mutants in parallel. The combination of functional genomics with mass spectrometry, plus the development of sophisticated computer programs for data analysis, reveals patterns of metabolic control, reconfiguration and adaptation. The simplicity of the model organism on the one hand, allows us to be a 'Multi-Omic' laboratory that tackles some of the most complex biological questions, on the other hand.
Within the frame of the national initiate for mass spectrometry in systems medicine (BMBF), we participate in the coordination and establishment of high-throughput mass spectrometry analytics for clinical and epidemiological studies.
More information about the Ralser Lab: Twitter
Selected Publications
Key Publications
Vowinckel J. et al. Nat Metab 2021
Messner C.B. et al. Nat Biotechnol 2021
Messner C.B. et al. Cell Syst 2020
Demichev V. et al. Nat Methods 2020
Pietzner M et al. Nat Commun 2020
Gosmann T.I. et al. Curr Biol 2019
Olin-Sandoval V. et al. Nature 2019
Keller M.A. et al. Nature Ecol and Evol 2017
Alam M.T. et al. Nature Commun 2017
Mülleder M. et al. Cell 2016
Alam M.T. et al. Nature Microbiology 2016
Campbell K. et al. eLife 2015
Keller M.A. et al. Mol Syst Biol 2014
Grüning N.M. et al. Cell Metabolism 2011
Ralser M. et al. Nature Biotechnol 2009
Ralser M. et al. J Biol 2007
Key Reviews
Stincone A. et al. Biol Rev Camb Soc 2015
Miller-Fleming L et al. J Mol Biol 2015
Key Commentaries
Patil K.R. & Ralser M. Cell 2018
Grüning N.M. & Ralser M. Nature 2011