With great pleasure we announce that Ute Hellmich, currently at the University of Mainz, has accepted the appointment to the W3 professorship Biostructural Interactions at FSU Jena. This is one of our four new professorships to be established within the Cluster of Excellence “Balance of the Microverse”.

As of January 2021, the biochemist will join the Institute of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry at FSU Jena. Her research group investigates the functional mechanisms of membrane transporters, ion channels and lipid-protein interactions in microbial communication with particular emphasis on host-pathogen relationships. By applying biochemical, biophysical and structural techniques, Ute Hellmich aims to contribute to the understanding of molecular mechanisms of bacterial multidrug resistance, infectivity mechanisms of neglected tropical disease pathogens and the function of human and parasitic ion channels.

Recently, the group already visited Jena to see the laboratories and get to know their new collaborators and colleagues. This also provided a great opportunity for the Hellmich group members to get to know their new hometown and meet fellow postdoctoral and doctoral researchers in Jena.

Text: Angela Köhler
Picture: Erika Diehl