Research group Group Büttner
We study how different organelles within a cell communicate and how this interorganellar connectivity contributes to protein homeostasis and cellular fitness during aging.
Group description
We are interested in different aspects of cellular aging and organellar connectivity. Using a combination of molecular and cell biology, genetics, biochemistry and imaging, we apply yeast as a model to understand age-associated cellular decay. The causes of aging are intertwined, and interdependent organelle subsystems and networks cooperate to sustain viability over time. Communication between organelles is ensured by dedicated signal transduction pathways or by direct physical contact at so-called membrane contact sites. We are interested in membrane contact site dynamics in response to aging, altered metabolic regimes and cell stress and the impact of organellar communication on cellular fitness and proteostasis in aging cells. The capacity of a cell to balance protein synthesis, folding and degradation progressively declines during aging, and long-lived cells are particularly sensitive to the deterioration of protein quality control. The accumulation of abnormal proteins in the course of aging expedites the sequential decay of different proteostatic subsystems maintaining cellular homeostasis, including autophagy. The different projects in our lab are centered around interorganellar communication during cellular aging, facilitated by signal transduction pathways and by direct physical contact between distinct organelles. We complement our studies in yeast with Drosophila research to extend our findings from the cellular to the organismal level.
Our funding
The Swedish Research Council
Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation
Stiftelsen Olle Engkvist Byggmästare
The Austrian Science Fund
Carl Tryggesr Stiftelse
Åke Wibergs Stiftelse
Group members
Group managers
Sabrina Büttner
Professor
Members
Emma Block
PhD student
Irene Alvarez Guerra
PhD student
Lukas Habernig
Researcher
Simon Prokisch-Chalas
PhD student