Konstanz Research School Chemical Biology

The Konstanz Research School Chemical Biology (KoRS-CB) provides its doctoral students with an interdisciplinary training at the cutting edge of chemistry and biology. Excellent research and supervision prepare them for competitive research careers in both academia and industry. Fellowships are offered twice per year with the starting dates 1 April and 1 October. The calls are advertised on the KoRS-CB website from December to January and from June to July. KoRS-CB was approved and founded in 2007 within the German Excellence Initiative.

The unifying research element of all participating groups within KoRS-CB is the desire to elucidate and understand complex biological processes at the molecular and even atomic level. The implementation of such an ambitious task requires both the expertise in a broad range of state-of-the-art methodologies and techniques and the availability of biologically relevant model systems. The research portfolio of KoRS-CB comprises the research areas Synthetic Chemistry, Cellular Biochemistry, Biophysics, Biomedicine, and Computational Life Science:

- Synthetic chemistry:

Progress in the field of Chemical Biology very much depends on a symbiotic research approach based on advancing Chemistry and its combination with Biology. The focus of this priority topic lies on the targeted manipulation of biomacromolecules as well as on the development of new methodologies for generating synthetic molecules and systems to study their structure and function.

- Cellular Biochemistry:

A key characteristic of living organisms is their ability to adapt their metabolism to changes in environmental conditions. This challenge is accomplished by a complex network regulating gene expression, protein folding and localization, posttranslational modifications, and selective protein degradation. While these regulatory circuits are prerequisite for the survival of any organism, their dynamic and complex nature poses a particular challenge when it comes to dissect the function and regulation of proteins. To approach this challenge, this priority topic combines methodologies and tools derived from Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Synthetic Chemistry, and Biophysics to investigate the mechanisms controlling fundamental cellular pathways in different biological model systems.

- Biomedicine:

Elucidating the basic molecular mechanisms and general principles in disease biology relies on chemical tools and approaches to dissect pathological processes and to open up avenues for therapeutic treatments. Using a wide range of chemical and biological methods such as the generation of transgenic animals, genomics, expression profiling and proteomics, use of new chemical probes for addressing biological questions, and a wide array of chemical analytical methods, the groups of this priority topic have obtained new insights into key biological processes. The biomedical issues being addressed comprise: infection, neurodegeneration, tumour biology and autoimmunity.

- Biophysics:

The study of biological processes requires the development and improvement of physical techniques. The biophysics groups in Konstanz are active in both areas with focus on crystallization, spectroscopy, and microscopy at high spatial and temporal resolution. Structure and function of biomolecules with sizes ranging from small peptides to membrane proteins are analysed in vitro, as well as in live cells and animals.

- Computational Life Science:

Studying biological systems and the biochemical and physiological function of their constituents requires data-analytical and theoretical methods, mathematical modelling, and computational simulation techniques from computer science, applied mathematics and statistics. The groups of this priority topic comprise experts with a strong background in both computer science and biochemistry, who join forces with other KoRS-CB groups to gain insights that are otherwise not accessible. The currently addressed research topics comprise sequence analysis, structure prediction and image analysis.