Münk Group

Group leader

Title	Name	First Name	Position
Prof. Dr.	Münk	Carsten	Group Leader

 For more information on the principal investigator click here...

Researchers

Title	Name	First Name	Position

BioStruct Fellow

Title	Name	First Name	Position
MSc	Jaguva Vasudevan	Ananda Ayyappan	PhD student

 For more information on the biostruct fellow click here...

Further Team Members

Technicians:	1
Master/Diploma students:	1
PHD/MD students:	4

Contact

AIDS Research Group
Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectiology
University Hospital Düsseldorf
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
Universitätsstr. 1
40225 Düsseldorf
Germany

 +49(0)211-81-10887

Special Methodical Expertise

• Tissue culture of primary T cells and macrophages
• Quantification of HIV-replication by sensitive viral and cellular reporter systems

 click here for further information

Main areas of research interest

• Structure and function of APOBEC3 proteins
• Evolution of retroviruses and co-evolution of antiviral genes
• Innate and intrinsic immunity against HIV-1
• Generation of animal models for HIV-1 infection

Facilities

The laboratories cover the following gene technology security levels:

S2, S3

Other security laboratories or special facilities:

• radioactive laboratory
• animal facility (mouse and monkey)

Laboratory Equipment

General equipment available in the laboratories:

• Biochemistry
• Cell biology
• Imaging
• Cell culture
• Microbiology
• Molecular biology
• Biocomputing

Non-standard methods, which are established in the laboratory:

• Confocal microscopy

Important references

• Carsten Münk, T. Beck, J. Zielonka, A. Hotz-Wagenblatt, S. Chareza, M. Battenberg, J. Thielebein, K. Cichutek, I. G. Bravo, S. J. O’Brien, M. Löchelt*, and N. Yuhki*. 2008. Functions, Structure, and Read-Through Alternative Splicing of Feline APOBEC3 Genes. Genome Biology, 9 (3): R48
• Heide Muckenfuss, M. Hamdorf, U. Held, M. Perkovic, J. Löwer, K. Cichutek, E. Flory G. G. Schumann*, and C. Münk*. 2006. APOBEC3 proteins inhibit human LINE-1 retrotransposition. The J. of Biol. Chem. 281(31): 22161-22172.
• Martin Löchelt*, F. Romen, P. Bastone, H. Muckenfuss, N. Kirchner, Y. Kim, U. Truyen, U. Rösler, M. Battenberg, A. Saib, E. Flory, K. Cichutek, and C. Münk*. 2005. The antiretroviral activity of APOBEC3 is inhibited by the foamy virus accessory Bet protein. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102: 7982 – 7987.
• Roberto Mariani, D. Chen, B. Schröfelbauer, F. Navarro, R. König, B. Bollman, C. Münk, H. Nymark-McMahon, and N. R. Landau. 2003. Species-specific exclusion of APOBEC3G from HIV-1 virions by VIF. Cell 114 (1):21-31.
• Carsten Münk, S. M. Brandt, G. Lucero, N. R. Landau. 2002. A dominant block to HIV replication at reverse transcription in simian cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99: 13843 – 13848.

Cooperators

• Schneider, Gisbert, Prof. Dr., University of Frankfurt, Germany
• Löchelt, Martin, Prof. Dr., German Cancer Research Institut, Germany
• Ignacio Bravo, Prof. Dr., University of Münster, Germany
• Simon, Viviana, Prof. Dr., Mt. Sinai Hospital New York, USA
• Kootstra, Neeltje, Dr. , University Amsterdam, The Netherlands