News
NEW PHD POSITION:
The Department of Neurobiology is hiring a research assistant (m/f/d) to start on March 16, 2025 (or later). The position is limited to three years with the possibility of an extension.
Deadline for applications: January 17, 2025.
Full job advertisment:
(in english language: Research Assistant Department of Neurobiology)
(in deutscher Sprache: Doktorand Abteilung Neurobiologie)
(jobvector)
PRESENTATION AT THE SCIENTIFIC MEETING OF THE ASBMB CELL ARCHITECTURE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP (CA-SIG) in Sydney, Australia (December 13, 2024):
Lidia Bakota (Osnabrück University, Germany): Tau is shaping microtubule lattice and affecting transport processes.
JUST ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION (November 14, 2024):
Lidia Bakota and Roland Brandt: Towards mechanism-based tau-targeted therapies. Neural Regeneration Research, in press.
NEW PREPRINT (October 5, 2024):
Davide di Lorenzo, Nicolo Bisi, Raffaella Bucci, Inga Ennen, Leonardo Lo Presti, Veronica Dodero, Roland Brandt, Sandrine Ongeri, Maria-Luisa Gelmi, Nicolo Tonali: Application of modular isoxazoline-β2,2-amino acid-based peptidomimetic foldamers as a chemical model system for studying the tau misfolding mechanism. (bioRxiv)
NEW PREPRINT (October 3, 2024):
Davide Di Lorenzo, Nicolo Bisi, Julia Kaffy, Lisa Marie Ramirez, Markus Zweckstetter, Olivier Lequin, Irene Garfagnini, Jinghui Luo, Yvonne Hannappe, Inga Ennen, Veronica Dodero, Norbert Sewald, Maria Luisa Gelmi, Nicolo Tonali, Roland Brandt* and Sandrine Ongeri*: Synthetic chaperone based on Hsp90-Tau interaction inhibits pathological Tau aggregation and rescues physiological Tau-Microtubule interaction. (*joined corresponding authors) (bioRxiv)
11th Westerberger Herbsttagung on the Perspectives of Molecular Neurobiology:
On Friday, September 27, 2024, the 11th edition of the traditional Westerberg autumn conference, organized by the Department of Neurobiology, took place in CellNanOs at the University of Osnabrück.
NEW PREPRINT (July 4, 2024):
Christian Conze, Nataliya I. Trushina, Nanci Monteiro-Abreu, Daniel Villar Romero, Eike Wienbeuker, Anna-Sophie Schwarze, Michael Holtmannspötter, Lidia Bakota, Roland Brandt: Redox signaling by hydrogen peroxide modulates axonal microtubule organization and induces a specific phosphorylation signature of microtubule proteins distinct from distress. (bioRxiv)
(Audio summary on ScienceCast)
Bilateral meeting on "Perspectives in Neurobiology" (July 4, 2024):
Passing of the baton in the Scientific Advisory Board of the "Alzheimer Forschungsinitiative" (AFI) (June 21, 2024):
The Alzheimer Forschungsinitiative is the largest private sponsor of Alzheimer research in Germany. Since its founding in 1995, the AFI has distributed over 16 million euros for research. Together with its sister institutions in the Netherlands (Alzheimer Nederland, AN) and France (Fondation Vaincre Alzheimer, FVA), the Scientific Advisory Board decides on the distribution of funding. At a ceremony with donors on the occasion of the awarding of the research prizes to this year's winners in July at the Humboldt Innovation Forum in Berlin, Prof. Roland Brandt (Neurobiology at the University of Osnabrück), who will take over the chairmanship of the Scientific Advisory Board from next year, bid farewell to the previous chairman Prof. Thomas Arendt (Paul Flechsig Institute for Brain Research, University of Leipzig).
BOOK REVIEW FOR "BIOspektrum 4/24":
Francis Waldvogel, Die Vielfalt der Emergenz: Vom Atom bis zur Natur des Menschen, utb (in German language)
50 YEARS OSNABRÜCK UNIVERSITY: „SCIENCE FOR A FUTURE WORTH LIVING“:
Poster exhibition of the School of Biology/Chemistry in the Botanical Garden from May 1 to October 6, 2024.
Poster contribution of the Department of Neurobiology: "Von der Zellkultur zur Entwicklung neuer Therapien gegen die Alzheimer Krankheit" (in German language)
BOOK REVIEW FOR "BIOspektrum 2/24":
Matthias Haudel, Theologie und Naturwissenschaft, utb (in German language)
JUST ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION (February 6, 2024):
Luca Pinzi*, Christian Conze*, Nicolo Bisi, Gabriele Dalla Torre, Ahmed Soliman, Nanci Monteiro-Abreu, Nataliya I. Trushina, Andrea Krusenbaum, Maryam Khodaei Dolouei, Andrea Hellwig, Michael S. Christodoulou, Daniele Passarella, Lidia Bakota, Giulio Rastelli#, and Roland Brandt#: Quantitative live cell imaging of a tauopathy model enables the identification of a polypharmacological drug candidate that restores physiological microtubule interaction. (Nature Communications) (*joint first authors) (#joint corresponding authors). bioRxiv link.
"50 YEARS OF TAU" issue is now published in print (January 2024):
(our contribution: Lidia Bakota and Roland Brandt: Why kiss-and-hop explains that tau does not stabilize microtubules and does not interfere with axonal transport (at physiological conditions))
NEW: „Top 2% Scientists worldwide":
Stanford University has recently released a list that represents the top 2 percent of the most-cited scientists in various disciplines. The database provides standardized information on citations, h-index, co-authorship-adjusted hm-index, citations to papers in different authorship positions, and a composite indicator. Several members of the Faculty of Biology/Chemistry, including Prof. Brandt, are listed as “Top 2% Scientists Worldwide”.
FUNDING FOR EUROPEAN APPLICATIONS (January 2024):
The Department is part of the program “Tailored drug discovery targeting the tubulin code” of the “Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas” (CSIC; Spain) for the support of international collaborations.
RECENT PREPRINT:
Marina Rierola, Nataliya I. Trushina, Nanci Monteiro-Abreu, Christian Conze, Michael Holtmannspötter, Rainer Kurre, Max Holzer, Thomas Arendt, Jürgen J. Heinisch, Roland Brandt and Lidia Bakota: Tau and α-synuclein shape microtubule organization and microtubule-dependent transport in neuronal dendrites. (bioRxiv)
SCIENTIFIC PRESENTATIONS OF MEMBERS OF THE DEPARTMENT:
- September 27, 2024: 11th Westerberger Herbsttagung on the Perspectives of Molecular Neurobiology, Osnabrück (M. Badrikoohi, L. Borba, L. Singh, K. Tulva: talks and poster).
- December 13, 2024: The Cytoskeleton Special Interest Group (CA-SIG) of the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), Sydney, Australia (L. Bakota: (virtual) talk).
- February 17-19,2025: International Conference on Central Nervous System Disorders: From Mechanisms to Medicine, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Gandhinagar, India (R. Brandt: talk)
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
The Department of Neurobiology participates in the "Forschungsbörse" of the Ministry of Science and Education (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF).
University-school partnership "Neurobiologie macht Schule": School visits at the Gymnasium Martinum, Emsdetten (17.01.2024), at the Irena-Sendler-Gesamtschule in Ahaus (28.02.2024), at the Georgianum in Vreden (15.03.2024), and at the Fürstenberg-Gymnaisum in Recke (27.11.2024).
"Webinar Volkshochschulen Deutschland" (in German): "Stand des Wissens: Was steckt hinter der Alzheimer-Krankheit" (23.10.25)"
Basic Information
In 2002, a new Department of Neurobiology was installed on a lab space of about 200 square meters and a functional space of additional 100 square meters in the Institute of Biology at the University of Osnabrück. The Department belongs to the School of Biology/Chemistry and is associated with the Institute of Cognitive Science. The research of the Department focusses on the mechanisms of neural development and degeneration on the molecular, cellular and systemic level (Research Mission). Techniques include S1 and S2 cell and organotypic culture (including gene transfer with Sindbis and Lentivirus), laser scanning microscopy and quantitative image analysis, electrophysiology (extracellular recordings using microelectrode arrays), and breeding, genotyping and characterization of transgenic mouse lines. Teaching involves participation in the Bachelor program "Biologie", the Bachelor program "Cognitive Sciences", the Master program "Biologie/Biology - from Molecules to Organisms" and the Master program "Nanosciences - Materials, Molecules and Cells". The Department consists of three research groups (AG Bakota, AG Brandt and AG Jeserich (retired)). Every two years, members of the Department organize the Westerberger Herbsttagung. The Department is part of the Center of Cellular Nanoanalytics Osnabrück (CellNanOs).
Departmental Seminars 2024
Seminar room Neurobiology (room 36-334)
| Date | Speaker and Title |
|---|---|
| Tuesday, January 30, 11 am | Yearly Safety Instructions: General lab safety, Biological safety (W. Hamann, R. Brandt) |
| Tuesday, April 2, 11 am | Pretalk for PhD defense (N. Abreu) |
| Tuesday, June 25, 11 am | Selected aspects of "good scientific practice": Peer review and preprints - where is the path going? (R. Brandt) |
| Thursday, July 4, 10-12 am | UOS-Macquarie University discussion round on Perspectives of Molecular Neurobiology (with T. Fath, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia) |
| Thursday, October 10, 9 am and 2 pm | International Seminar on Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration, part I (with A. Krusenbaum, Bremen, and D. Rast, Osnabrück) |
| Friday, October 11, 11 am and 2 pm | International Seminar on Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration, part II (with M. Soutos, Athens, and N. Winkler, Bielefeld) |
| Monday, October 14, 9 am and 11 am | International Seminar on Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration, part III (with D.H. Nakken, Heidelberg, and N. Sariffo'deen, Ulm) |
| Coming soon | FELASA Meeting report part 1: "Creating and maintaining genetically altered animals" (L. Bakota) |
| Coming soon | FELASA Meeting report part 2: "Experimental design" (L. Bakota) |
Attendance is mandatory for bachelor, master, doctoral and postdoctoral members of the Department and open to everybody.
Seminar language is English