Ville KailaProfessor of Biochemistry
About me
2019- Full Professor of Biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
2018-2019 Professor (W3) of Computational Biocatalysis, Department of Chemistry, Technical University Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany.
2013-2018 Tenure-track Professor (W2 to W3) of Computational Biocatalysis, Department of Chemistry, Technical University Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany.
2010-2013 EMBO Long-Term Post-doctoral researcher, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
2009 Ph.D. Biochemistry and 2006 M.Sc. in Biochemistry (Extended minors in Physical Chemistry and Theoretical Physics), University of Helsinki, Finland.
1994-2004 Training for a solo violin career, Sibelius Academy, Finland.
Research
Deciphering molecular mechanisms in enzyme catalysis and biological energy transduction
Our research is focused on understanding molecular principles of enzyme catalysis, with special emphasis on biological energy conversion machinery involved in cell respiration and photosynthesis. To this end we develop state-of-the-art methodology of computational biochemistry in combination with biochemical and biophysical experiments to obtain insight in the structure, function, and dynamics of these fascinating biomolecules.
See the description of our Knut and Alice Wallenberg (KAW/WAF) project here .
Please visit our Lab page here.
Group members
Dr. Ana P. Gamiz-Hernadez, staff scientist
Dr. Grant Kemp, researcher
Dr. Dirk Auman, postdoc
Dr. Patricia Saura Martinez, postdoc
Dr. Sophie Mader, postdoc
Dr. Viivi Hirvonen, postdoc
Dr. James Davies, postdoc
Dr. Abhishek Sirohiwal, postdoc
Friederike Allgöwer, PhD student
Mona Baumgart, PhD student (TUM)
Alexander Jussupow, PhD student (TUM/SU)
Hyunho Kim, PhD student
Max Mühlbauer, PhD student (TUM/SU)
Max Pöverlein, PhD student
Daniel Riepl, PhD student
Michael Röpke, PhD student (TUM)
Adel Beghiah, PhD student
10 Selected Publications
- Baumgart M, Röpke M, Mühlbauer M, Asami S, Mader S, Fredriksson K, Groll M, Gamiz-Hernandez AP,Kaila VRI (2021) Design of buried ion-pairs in artificial proteins. Nature Comms 12: 1895, 1–10
- Röpke M, Saura P, Riepl D, Pöverlein M, Kaila VRI (2020) Functional water-wires catalyze long-range proton pumping in the mammalian respiratory complex I. JACS 142:21758-21766.
- Schuller JM, Saura P, Thiemann J, Schuller S, Gamiz-Hernandez AP, Kurisu G, Nowaczyk MM, Kaila VRI (2020) Redox-Coupled Proton Pumping Drives Carbon Concentration in the Photosynthetic Complex I, Nature Comms 11, 494: 1-7.
- Mühlbauer ME, Saura P, Nuber F, Di Luca A, Friedrich T, Kaila VRI (2020) Water-gated proton transfer dynamics in respiratory complex I. JACS 142: 13718-13728.
- Mader SL, Lopez A, Lawatscheck J, Luo Q, Rutz DA, Gamiz-Hernandez AP, Sattler M, Buchner J, Kaila VRI (2020) Conformational dynamics modulate the catalytic activity of the molecular chaperone Hsp90. Nature Comms 11, 11410: 1-12.
- Jussupow A, Di Luca A, Kaila VRI (2019) How cardiolipin modulates the activity of complex I. Science Adv 5:eaav1850.
- Mader SL, Bräuer A, Groll M, Kaila VRI (2018) Catalytic mechanism and molecular engineering of quinolone biosynthesis in dioxygenase AsqJ. Nature Comm 9, 1168:1-8.
- Gamiz-Hernandez AP, Jussupow A, Johansson MP, Kaila VRI (2017) Terminal Electron-Proton Transfer Dynamics coupled to Quinone reduction in Respiratory Complex I. JACS 139:16282-16288.
- Warnau J, Sharma V, Gamiz-Hernandez AP, Di Luca A, Haapanen O, Vattulainen I, Wikström M, Hummer G, Kaila VRI (2018) Redox-Coupled Quinone Dynamics in the Respiratory Complex I. PNAS 115:E8413-E8420.
- Di Luca A, Gamiz-Hernandez AP, Kaila VRI (2017) Symmetry related proton transfer pathways in respiratory Complex I. PNAS 114:E6314-E6321.
Show all recent publications here: