Prof. Dr. Mario Schelhaas
Virus in Motion
Microbiology / Virology / Infectiology
Cell Biology / Molecular Biology
Imaging Technology
For initial infection, viruses face several barriers. First, they have to cross tissue barriers to access their target cells. Second, they must cross cellular barriers, i.e. cellular membranes and the viscous cytosol, to access the site of replication. For these highly dynamic processes, viruses hijack cellular mechanisms such as modulation of cell adhesion, cell migration, and membrane transport. We aim to understand the dynamics and regulation of those processes during infection of small DNA tumor viruses.
Human Papillomaviruses (HPV) infect the basal cells of skin or mucosa. It is not known how they initially cross the barrier of suprabasal cell layers. For cell entry, HPVs use a novel endocytic mechanism and cell divsion to cross the plasmamembrane and the limiting nuclear envelope, respectively. The following questions could be addressed in a Phd project
- How do HPV interact with the cell division machinery for successful nuclear delivery, and how does this, in turn, affect mitosis?
- How is infection established in basal cells of the epithelium and how do they cross suprabasal cells to access those cells?
Technical approaches may include high throughput and high spatial and temporal resolution microscopy, superesolution microscopy, biochemistry, mass spectrometry, electron microscopy, and further techniques in molecular cell biology.
Vita
- 1992 - 1999: Studies in Chemistry and Biology, Universities of Cologne and Edinburgh
- 2004: Graduation, Dr. rer. nat., MPI for Neurological Research and University of Cologne
- 2004 - 2009: Postdoctoral with Ari Helenius, ETH Zurich
- 2009 - 2015: Emmy Noether Group Leader at University of Münster
- 2015 - 2017: Independent Group Leader at the University of Münster
- 2017: Full Professor and Director of the Institute of Cellular Virology at the University of Münster
Selected references
Lai KY, Rizzato M, Aydin I, Villalonga-Planells R, Drexler HCA, Schelhaas M. (2021) A Ran-binding protein facilitates nuclear import of human papillomavirus type 16. PLoS Pathog.17(5):e1009580.
Aydin I, Villalonga-Planells R, Greune L, Bronnimann MP, P, Calton CM, Becker M, Lay KY, Becker M, Campos SK, Schmidt MA, Schelhaas M (2017) A central region in the minor capsid protein of papillomaviruses facilitates viral genome tethering and membrane penetration for mitotic nuclear entry. PLoS pathog. 13, e1006308.
Aydin I, Schelhaas M (2016). Viral genome tethering to host cell chromatin: cause and consequences.
Traffic 17, 327-340.
Aydin I, Weber S, Snijder B, Samperio Ventayol P, Kühbacher A, Becker M, Day PM, Schiller JT, Kann M, Pelkmans L, Helenius A, Schelhaas M (2014) Large scale RNAi reveals the requirement of nuclear envelope breakdown for nuclear import of human papillomaviruses. PLoS pathog. 10, e1004162.
Day PM, Schelhaas M (2014). Concepts of papillomavirus entry. Curr. Opin. Virol. 4, 24-31.
Link