Biological Membranes

Biological membranes and their constituents are some of the most important and fundamental building blocks of life. However, their exact role in many essential cellular processes as well as in the development of diseases such as cancer or Alzheimer's is still not very well understood. Therefore, our group is concerned with the development of novel, flexible tools to investigate biological membranes and membrane processes. For this, we design, synthesize and evaluate so called imidazolium-based lipid analogs. These analogs can integrate into biological membranes and there be used as versatile probes, e.g. for live cell imaging. ^[1]

[1] L. Rakers, D. Grill, A. L. L. Matos, S. Wulff, D. Wang, J. Börgel, M. Körsgen, H. F. Arlinghaus, H. J. Galla, V. Gerke, F. Glorius, Cell Chem. Biol. 2018, 25, 952.

Please click on the graphical abstracts to come to the original publication

C. Schultz,^§ T. Wegner,^§ C. Heusel, Tim Gallagher, Y. Zheng, M. Werner, S. V. Wegner, T. Meyer-Zedler, O. Werz, M. Schmitt, J. Popp,* F. Glorius,*
Alkyne-tagged imidazolium-based membrane cholesterol analogs for Raman imaging applications,
Chem. Sci. 2024, 15, 14323-14335.
^§ These authors contributed equally.

J. Goretzko, I. Pauels, N. Heitzig, K. Thomas, M. Kardell, J. Naß, E. Kleinhans Krogsaeter, S. Schloer, B. Spix, A. L. L. Matos, C. Leser, T. Wegner, F. Glorius, F. Bracher, V. Gerke, J. Rossaint, C. Grimm, U. Rescher,*
P-selectin-dependent leukocyte adhesion is governed by endolysosomal two-pore channel 2,
Cell Rep. 2023, 42, 113501.

T. Wegner,^§ A. Dombovski,^§ K. Gesing, A. Köhrer, M. Elinkmann, U. Karst, F. Glorius* J. Jose,*
Combining lipid-mimicking-enabled transition metal and enzyme-mediated catalysis at the cell surface of E. coli,
Chem. Sci. 2023, 14, 11896-11906.
^§ These authors contributed equally

T. Wegner,^§ A. L. L. Matos,^§ K. Porte,^§ K. Mehring,^§ M. Pierau,^§ H. Horstmeier, V. Gerke,* F. Glorius,*
A bifunctional imidazolium-based cholesterol analog for the tracking of cellular cholesterol distributions and cholesterol–protein interactions,
Org. Biomol. Chem. 2023, 21, 4817-4822.
^§ These authors contributed equally

Y. Lee,^§ X. Liu,^§ Y. Tong,^§ J. L. Childs-Disney,^§ B. M. Suresh, R. I. Benhamou, C. Yang, W. Li, M. G. Costales, H. S. Haniff, S. Sievers, D. Abegg, T. Wegner, T. O. Paulisch, E. Lekah, M. Grefe, G. Crynenf, M. Van Meter, J. L. Cleveland, A. Adibekian, F. Glorius,*, H. Waldmann,* M. D. Disney*,
Programming inactive RNA-binding small molecules into bioactive degraders,
Nature 2023, 618, 169-179.
^§ These authors contributed equally

Y. Zheng,^§ T. Wegner,^§ D. Di Iorio, M. Pierau, F. Glorius,* S. V. Wegner,*
NTA-Cholesterol Analogue for the Nongenetic Liquid-Ordered Phase-Specific Functionalization of Lipid Membranes with Proteins,
ACS Chem. Biol. 2023, 18, 1435-1443.
^§ These authors contributed equally

T. Wegner, R. Laskar, F. Glorius,
Lipid mimetics: A versatile toolbox for lipid biology and beyond,
Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2022, 71, 102209.

T. Wegner,^§ R. Elias,^§ L. Roling, N. Raj, V. Gerke, M. Fridman*, F. Glorius*,
Cationic, steroid-based imidazolium amphiphiles show tunable backbone-dependent membrane selectivity in fungi,
ACS Infect. Dis.2022, 8, 1815-1822.
^§ These authors contributed equally

K. Kajiwara,^§ H. Osaki,^§ S. Greßies, K. Kuwata, J. H. Kim, T. Gensch, Y. Sato, F. Glorius,* S. Yamaguchi,* M. Taki,*
A negative-solvatochromic fluorescent probe for visualizing intracellular distributions of fatty acid metabolites,
Nature Commun. 2022, 13, 2533.
^§ These authors contributed equally

A. L. L. Matos, F. Keller, T. Wegner, C. E. Cadena del Castillo, D. Grill, S. Kudruk, A. Spang, F. Glorius*, A. Heuer*, V. Gerke*,
CHIMs are versatile cholesterol analogs mimicking and visualizing cholesterol behavior in lipid bilayers and cells,
Commun. Biol. 2021, 4, Article number 720.

T. O. Paulisch, S. Bornemann, M. Herzog, S. Kudruk, L. Roling, A. L. Linard Matos, H.-J. Galla, V. Gerke, R. Winter, F. Glorius,
An Imidazolium‐based Lipid Analogue as Gene Transfer Agent,
Chem. Eur. J. 2020, 26, 17176-17182.

L. Rakers, D. Grill, A. L. L. Matos, S. Wulff, D. Wang, J. Börgel, M. Körsgen, H. F. Arlinghaus, H.-J. Galla,* V. Gerke,* F. Glorius,*
Addressable Cholesterol Analogs for Live Imaging of Cellular Membranes,
Cell Chem. Biol. 2018, 25, 952-961.e12.

A. Rühling, D. Wang, J. B. Ernst, S. Wulff, R. Honeker, C. Richter, A. Ferry, H.-J. Galla,* F. Glorius,*
Influence of the Headgroup of Azolium-Based Lipids on Their Biophysical Properties and Cytotoxicity,
Chem. Eur. J. 2017, 23, 5920-5924.

P. Drücker, A. Rühling, D. Grill, D. Wang, A. Draeger, V. Gerke, F. Glorius,* H.-J. Galla,*
Imidazolium Salts Mimicking the Structure of Natural Lipids Exploit Remarkable Properties Forming Lamellar Phases and Giant Vesicles,
Langmuir 2017, 33, 1333-1342.

D. Wang, D. H. de Jong, A. Rühling, V. Lesch, K. Shimizu, S. Wulff, A. Heuer,* F. Glorius,* H.-J. Galla,*
Imidazolium-Based Lipid Analogues and Their Interaction with Phosphatidylcholine Membranes,
Langmuir 2016, 32, 12579–12592.