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Kathrin Leppek
© J. Saba
Prof. Dr. Kathrin Leppek

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Affiliations
  • Institut für klinische Chemie und klinische Pharmakologie, Universitätsklinikum Bonn
Research topics
  • translation regulation
  • RNA/ribosome biology
  • immunology
  • developmental biology
Our lab focuses on how regulation of gene expression is directly executed by the ribosome, particularly in the innate immune response. Our lab studies a fundamentally new mode of gene regulation by which ribosomal RNA (rRNA) regions exposed on the outer shell of the ribosome bind to selective transcripts to control mRNA- and species-specific translation. We combine innovative RNA biochemistry and RNA-based technology development with model systems ranging from yeast to macrophages. Our ultimate goal is to decipher how rRNA-directed specialized translation shapes gene expression to understand the role of the ribosome in innate immune responses.
Selected publications

Leppek K*, Byeon GW*, Kladwang W*, Wayment-Steele HK*, Kerr CH*, Xu AF**, Kim DS**, Topkar VV, Choe C, Rothschild D, Tiu GC, Wellington-Oguri R, Fujii K, Sharma E, Watkins AM, Nicol JJ, Romano J, Tunguz B, Diaz F, Cai H, Guo P, Wu J, Meng F, Shi S, Eterna Participants, Dormitzer PR, Solórzano A, Barna M‡, Das R‡. Combinatorial optimization of mRNA structure, stability, and translation for RNA-based therapeutics. Nature Comm. 2022 Mar;13(1): 1536,1-22.

K. Leppek, G.W. Byeon, K. Fujii, M. Barna* “VELCRO-IP RNA-seq reveals ribosome expansion segment function in translation genome-wide” Cell Reports 2021, 34, 108629.

K. Leppek, K. Fujii, N. Quade, T.T. Susanto, D. Boehringer, T. Lenarčič, S. Xue, N.R. Genuth, N. Ban*, M. Barna* “Gene- and species-specific Hox mRNA translation by ribosome expansion segments” Mol. Cell 2020, 80, 980–995.

K. Leppek, J. Schott, S. Reitter, F. Poetz, M.C. Hammond, G. Stoecklin* “Roquin promotes constitutive mRNA decay via a conserved class of stem-loop recognition motifs” Cell 2013, 153, 869–81.

Kathrin Leppek
© J. Saba
Prof. Dr. Kathrin Leppek

Website

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