Before an audience of students, professors, and distinguished guests such as Prof. Horst Kessler, Emeritus of Excellence at TUM, Prof. Carina Baer de Oliveira Mann presented her current research under the title: “Unlocking the Immune System’s Code for Self and Non-Self Nucleic Acid Recognition using Cryo-EM.”
The event began with a brief introduction by Prof. Andreas Bausch, Director of the CPA, who outlined Prof. Baer de Oliveira Mann’s impressive scientific career. After studying biochemistry at TUM and completing her doctorate at the Gene Center of LMU, she conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard and in Munich, focusing on the functions of nucleotidyltransferases (NTases), key components of the immune system. Since 2021, she has been leading an Emmy Noether research group at the Institute of Virology at TUM, and since August 2023, she has been a professor of Biomolecular Cryo-Electron Microscopy. At the beginning of her lecture, Prof. Baer de Oliveira Mann warmly thanked Prof. Bausch for his introduction. She remarked that during her studies at TUM, she could never have imagined standing there one day to give her own inaugural lecture.
In her lecture, Prof. Baer de Oliveira Mann discussed the mechanisms of the innate immune system. She emphasized her research goal of deciphering the strategies used by immune receptors to recognize specific nucleic acids. From an evolutionary perspective, her team investigates how these receptors have adapted to specific ligands and the signaling mechanisms employed to fine-tune immune responses over the course of evolution. The aim of her lab is to uncover the molecular functions of NTases and discover new nucleotide-based messengers and signaling pathways, with cryo-electron microscopy serving as a central method.
Following a lively Q&A session, Prof. Baer de Oliveira Mann was celebrated with enthusiastic applause. The afternoon concluded with snacks and engaging discussions in the CPA foyer, where guests had the opportunity to further converse with Prof. Baer de Oliveira Mann.
Further information & links:
- Prof. Carina Baer de Oliveira Mann, Professorship of Biomolecular Cryo-Electron Microscopy
- Department of Bioscience
- Center for Protein Assemblies (CPA)
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