Book a Scientist: Katharina Höfer

A new world of RNA, „Phagebusters!“, molecular glue, and more

You don't need molecular glue to keep Katharina Höfer in the lab! She is enthusiastic about the variety and versatility of RNA.

You don't need molecular glue to keep Katharina Höfer in the lab! She is enthusiastic about the variety and versatility of RNA.

We know RNA from biology textbooks: a relatively simple chemical structure, generally made up of just four different building blocks. But this picture is misleading: RNA has many functions in the cell, and there are already 160 known modifications of RNA.
Max Planck research group leader Dr. Katharina Höfer and her team, the "phagebusters," are on the trail of a new type of RNA building block: "NAD-RNAs”. In the future, these might not only be important for controlling bacterial viruses (phages), but could also be used as molecular glue for the development of new drugs.

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Matching the topics:
RNA, Mikrobes, Bacteriophages