15.05.2025 Protein Design 2.0

Interest in the lecture of Prof. Birte Höcker from the University of Bayreuth pushed the capacity of our lecture hall to its limits.

On 6 May, we welcomed Birte Höcker to RTG 2937, who is Professor at the Faculty of Biology, Chemistry & Earth Sciences. She and her team study the evolution of protein folds and functions and apply this knowledge to protein design: "Evolutionary mechanisms as observed in Nature can teach us about concepts to use in design, while design provides a way to test evolutionary hypotheses. In our studies we combine theoretical and experimental approaches." In the SYNMIKRO lecture hall, Birte talked about approaches to design proteins and enzymes, which are rapidly evolving with the use of AI techniques enabling higher desing success rates than before.

Click here to learn more about the Höcker Lab, how it aims to contribute to a more thorough understanding of protein function and how it is developing computational design tools.

Thank you for the impulses you gave us, Birte! We hope you enjoyed your stay as much as we and the large audience did.