Krishnaraj Rajalingam was born and brought up in Mayiladuthurai, India.
After receiving his Masters in Life sciences from Bharathidasan University, Thiruchirapalli, India he moved to Germany to work with Profs. Thomas Rudel and Thomas Meyer at the Max Plnack Institute for Infections Biology (MPIIB) in Berlin.
After obtaining his PhD, he continued at MPIIB as a scientist before moving to MSZ at the University of Würzburg to start with his own group.
He subsequently moved to Frankfurt and currently he is heading an Emmy Noether Group of the DFG at the Institute.
Krishna’s scientific interests are in understanding the molecular signalling controlling cell death/survival and more recently on cell migration.
Head, Emmy Noether Group of the DFG
Institute of Biochemistry II
Goethe University Medical School, Frankfurt
2006 - 2008
C1, Wissenschaflicher Oberassistent
Junior Group leader
Institute of edical Radiation and Cell Research (MSZ)
University of Wuerzburg, Germany
2005 - 2006
Scientist, Max Planck Institute for Infections Biology, Berlin
2004-2005
Postdoc, Max Planck Institute for Infections Biology, Berlin
2000-2004
PhD Student, Max Planck Institute for Infections Biology, Berlin
1995-2000
Masters in Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Thiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India
Major awards and fellowships
Selected for the EMMY-NOETHER PROGRAMME of the German Research Foundation (DFG)
BOGS Stipend of the German Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina
AACR-AFLAC Scholar-in-Training Award 2005.
PhD and Scientist fellowships from the Max Planck Society
Travel grants from EMBO/FEBS/UNESCO
International Patents
Prohibitin as a target for cancer therapy. (PCT/EP2005/010339) (WO/2006/032528)
Invited lectures (selected)
How to count on counting apoptosis – DRFZ invited lecture, Berlin
Conducted and co-chaired a workshop session on apoptosis with Prof. Dr. Krammer for the German society of Immunology, 2003.
Represented Max Planck society for the Max Planck-India interaction meeting and delivered a talk on "Bacterial modulation of host cell apoptosis" at NCBS, Bangalore, India. (March 2005).
Invited lecture on "Prohibitin-a new component of the old pathway"- Beatson Institute for cancer research, Glasgow, UK (Aug 2005)
Invited speaker for the external seminar series for Institute for Cancer research UK, London (Sep 2005)
Invited speaker for SFB 581 seminar series- on United they stand – the cross regulation of IAPs, Wuerzburg, (Oct 2005).
Invited to lecture and co chair a session in the International Symposium on Translational Research: APOPTOSIS & CANCER held in Trivandrum, Kerala, India (Dec, 2005).
Invited for a research seminar "Role of prohibitin in RAS signaling and modulation of host cell apoptosis by bacterial pathogens" in GENENTECH, USA (2007)
Selected for a short talk in the EMBO meeting on Cellular Signalling and Molecular medicine in Cavtat, Croatia (May 29-Jun 4 '08)
Selected for short talk in the EMBO workshop on "Can epigenetics influence reprogramming
& metastatic progression?" Bad staffelstein (Oct 6-9'08).
invited for a short talk and to co-chair a session on Apoptosis in the Leopoldina symposium on "Evolution of programmed Cell Death in Infection and Immunity" (Sep18-20,2009).
Publications
Krishnamurthy KV, Krishnaraj R, Chozhavendan R, and Christopher, F.S. (2000) The programme of cell death in plants and animals - A comparison. Current Science 79 (9): 1169-1181.
Rajalingam K, Al-Younes H, Muller A, Meyer TF, Szczepek AJ, Rudel T. (2001) Epithelial cells infected with Chlamydophila pneumoniae (Chlamydia pneumoniae) are resistant to apoptosis. Infection and Immunity 69 (12):7880-8.
Machuy N, Rajalingam K, Rudel T. (2004) Caspase mediated cleavage of c-Abl is required during cisplatin induced apoptosis. Cell Death and Differentiation 11(3):290-300.
Machuy N*, Thiede B*, Rajalingam K, Dimmler C, Thieck O, Meyer TF, Rudel T. (2005) A global approach combining proteome analysis and phenotypic screening with RNA interference yields novel apoptosis regulators. Molecular and Cellular Proteomics (1):44-55.
Krishnaraj Rajalingam, Christian Wunder, Volker Brinkmann, Yuri Churin, Mirko Hekman, Claudia Sievers, Ulf R. Rapp, Thomas Rudel. (2005) Prohibitin is required for Ras induced Raf-MEK-ERK activation and epithelial cell migration. Nature Cell Biology 7(8):837-43.
Cover feature (image) for August 2005 issue of NCB
What is in a name? (2005) Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 6, 674-675 doi: 10.1038/nrc1731.
(Evaluated by faculty of 1000 biology & medicine, highlighted in EMBO encounters)
6- Krishnaraj Rajalingam and Thomas Rudel. (2005) Ras-Raf signaling needs prohibitin. Cell Cycle 4(11):1503-5.
Nicole Paland, Krishnaraj Rajalingam, Nikolaus Machuy, Agnes Szczepek, Wolfgang Wehrl and Thomas Rudel. (2006) NF-kappaB and inhibitor of apoptosis proteins are required for apoptosis resistance of epithelial cells persistently infected with Chlamydophila pneumoniae. Cellular Microbiology 8(10):1643-55.
Krishnaraj Rajalingam, Manu Sharma, Nicole Paland, Oliver Thieck, Monique Oswald, Nikolaus Machuy and Thomas Rudel. (2006) IAP-IAP complexes required for apoptosis resistance of C.trachomatis infected cells. PloS Pathogens 2(10):e114.
Oliver kepp§, Krishnaraj Rajalingam§, Sonja Kimmig, and Thomas Rudel. (§Equal contribution) (2007) Bax and Bak are functionally non redundant during Neisseria gonorrhoea and DNA damage- induced apoptosis. EMBO journal 26(3):825-34.
Krishnaraj Rajalingam, Ralf Schreck, Ulf R Rapp, Stefan Albert. (2007) Ras oncogene and effectors. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta-Molecular Cell Research 1773(8):1177-95.
Krishnaraj Rajalingam, Monique Oswald, Kathleen Gottschalk, Thomas Rudel. (2007) Smac is required for effector caspase activation during apoptosis in human cells. Apoptosis 12(8):1503-10.
Anatoly Samoylenko, Nadiya Byts, Krishnaraj Rajalingam, Nico von Ahsen, Ulf R. Rapp, Hannelore Ehrenreich and Anna-Leena Sirén. (2008) Thrombopoietin inhibits nerve growth factor-induced neuronal differentiation and ERK1/2 signalling. Cellular Signalling 20(1):154-62.
13- Krishnaraj Rajalingam*, Manu Sharma*, Christine Wolkewitz, Monique Oswald, Christopher J. Froelich, Thomas Rudel. (2008) Mcl-1 is a key regular of apoptosis resistance in Chlamydia trachomatis infected cells. PloS ONE 3(9):e3102
Taner Dogan, Gregory S.Harms, Mirko Hekman, Christiaan Karremann, Tripat kaur Oberoi, Emad S.Alnemri, Ulf R Rapp, Krishnaraj Rajalingam. (2008) X linked and cellular IAPs modulate the stability of C-RAF kinase and cell motility. Nature Cell Biology 10 (12):1447-55.
Krishnaraj Rajalingam and Ivan Dikic (2009). Inhibitors of Apoptosis catch ubiquitin. Biochemical Journal 417(1):e1-3.
Andreas Fischer, Angela Baljuls, Jörg Reinders, Elena Nekhoroshkova, Claudi Sibilski, Renate Metz, Stefan Albert, Krishnaraj Rajalingam, Mirko Hekman, and Ulf R. Rapp (2009) Regulation of RAF Activity by 14-3-3 Proteins –RAF Kinases Associate Functionally with both Homo- and Heterodimeric forms of 14-3-3 Proteins. Journal of Biological Chemistry 284(5):3183-94.
Oliver Kepp, Kathleen Gottschalk, Yuri Churin, Krishnaraj Rajalingam, Guido Kroemer, Thomas Rudel. (2009) Bim and Bmf dependent apoptosis during Neisseria gonorrhoea infection PloS Pathogens 5(3):e1000348.
Philippe C. Morand, Marek Drab, Krishnaraj Rajalingam, Xavier Nassif and Thomas F.Meyer. (2009) Neisseria meningitidis differentially controls host cell motility with PilC1 and PilC2 components of type-4 pili PloS ONE, Aug 31;4(8):e6834
Vera Kozjak-Pavlovic*, Elke A. Dian*, Michael Meinecke*, Oliver Kepp*, Katharina Ross, Krishnaraj Rajalingam, Anke Harsman, Eva Hauf, Volker Brinkmann, Ines Herrmann, Robert Hurwitz, Dirk Günther, Joachim Rassow, Richard Wagner, Thomas Rudel. (2009) Bacterial porin integrated into mitochondrial inner membrane dissipates membrane potential and sensitizes host cells to apoptosis. PloS Pathogens Oct;5(10):e1000629. Epub 2009 Oct 23.
Wesley E. Straub, Tobias A. Weber, Birgit Schäfer, Eleonora Candi, Florian Durst, Horng Der Ou, Jan Heering, Krishnaraj Rajalingam, Gerry Melino and Volker Dötsch. (2009) The C-terminus of p63 Contains Multiple Regulatory Elements with Different Functions (Cell death &Disease- in press).
Gergely Imre
Gergely Imre was born in Budapest, Hungary. He spent the school years in Budapest, where he received MSc degree in Molecular biology.
He joined Ph.D program at the 1st Institute of Pathology and Experimental Cancer Research, Semmelweis Medical School, Budapest, under the supervision of Dr. Rudolf Mihalik.
During his doctoral studies he worked on better understanding of the alternativ pathways of cell death regulation in cancer cells.
After completing the Ph. D, he joined Dr. Krishnaraj Rajalingam's laboratory at the Institute of Biochemistry II, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main.
His current research interest is focused on the molecular regulation of cell death pathways in pathological processes such as bacterial infections and cancer.
Ph.D. student at the Doctoral School of Pathological Sciences and Oncology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
2002-2004
MSc in Secondary Teacher's Qualifications (Biology) Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
1998-2003
MSc in Molecular Biology Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
Publications
Imre G, Dunai Z, Petak I, Mihalik R. Cystein cathepsin and Hsp90 activities determine the balance between apoptotic and necrotic cell death pathways in caspase compromised U937 cells. Biochim Biophys Acta 2007; 1773(10):1546-57.
Mihalik R, Imre G, Petak I, Szende B, Kopper L. Cathepsin B-independent abrogation of cell death by CA-074-OMe upstream of lysosomal breakdown. Cell Death Differ 2004;11(12):1357-60.
Felfoldi B, Imre G, Igyarto B, Ivan J, Mihalik R, Lacko E, Olah I, Magyar A. In ovo vitelline duct ligation results in transient changes of bursal microenvironments. Immunology 2005;116(2):267-75.
Nagy K, Petak I, Imre G, Barna G, Gezane-Csorba M, Sebestyen A, Houghton JA, Mihalik R, Kopper L. Proteasome inhibitors abolish cell death downstream of caspase activation during anti-microtubule drug-induced apoptosis in leukemia cells. Anticancer Res 2005;25(5):3321-6.
Mihalik R, Imre G. Kaszpázok, apoptózis, sejtelhalás: (jel)útvesztőben. Orvosképzés 2006, LXXXI. évfolyam, 3. szám: 151-157
International Prizes
2008
EMBO poster award
Armelle Takeda
Armelle Takeda studied the structure and the function of sodium channels during her Master work and then during her PhD thesis.
In May 2009, she received her PhD degree in Life Sciences from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, in co-direction with the University Pierre & Marie Curie, Paris VI, France.
Since May 2010, she has joined the group of Dr. Krishna Rajalingam in Frankfurt to study the role of Inhibitors of Apoptosis Proteins.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Biochemistry II, Goethe-University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany. Supervisor: Dr. Krishna Rajalingam
"Investigation of the physiological roles of inhibitors of apoptosis proteins (IAPs)."
2005 – 2009
PhD Researcher, co-working between the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and the Centre of Biomedical Research of Bichat Hospital, University Pierre & Marie Curie, Paris VI, France. Supervisor: Prof. Laurent Schild & Dr. Alain Vandewalle
Investigation of functional domains of ENaC/Deg family proteins either accessible from the external or the internal side of the cell.
Sept. 2003-Oct. 2004
Master of Cellular & Molecular Physiopathology, Centre of Biomedical Research of Bichat Hospital, University Pierre & Marie Curie, Paris VI, France. Supervisor: Dr. Alain Vandewalle
Investigation of the effect of androgens on the mineralocorticoid receptor and their role in the sodium transport.
Communications and Prizes
20-23 Sept. 2009
Oral communication in English at the 20th Ion Channel Meeting, Presqu'île de Giens, France
03-07 Oct. 2007
1st Poster Prize at the 6th International Symposium on "Aldosterone and ENaC: From gene to disease", in Zermatt, Switzerland
16-17 June 2005
Oral Communication in French at "Journées Takis Anagnostopoulos", Faculty of Medicine Necker, Paris, France
23 Oct. 2004
Oral Communication in English at the European Section of the Aldosterone Council (ESAC) Congress, Collège de France, Paris, France
20-21 Sept. 2004
1st Poster Prize "Ivan Chouroulinkov" at the "Société de Pharmaco-Toxicologie Cellulaire" (SPTC) Congress, Faculty of Medicine Xavier Bichat, Paris, France
Publications
Armelle-Natsuo Takeda, Ivan Gaustchi, Miguel X. van Bemmelen and Laurent Schild. Cadmium Trapping in an Epithelial Sodium Channel Pore Mutant. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 282(44):31928-36, Nov. 2007.
Armelle-Natsuo Takeda*, Grégory M. Pinon*, Marcelle Bens, Jérôme Fagart, Marie-Edith Rafestin-Oblin and Alain Vandewalle. The Synthetic Androgen Methyltrienolone (R1881) Acts as a Potent Antagonist of the Mineralocorticoid Receptor. Molecular Pharmacology, 71(2):473-82, Feb. 2007. (*, equal contributing authors)
Yvan Pfister, Ivan Gautschi, Armelle-Natsuo Takeda, Miguel X. van Bemmelen, Stephan Kellenberger, Laurent Schild. A gating mutation in the internal pore of ASIC1a. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 281(17):11787-91, Apr. 2006.
Rolf-Peter Scholz
After finishing the study of Technical Biology in 2006, he started his PhD thesis at the Institute of Cell Biology and Immunology at the University of Stuttgart.
In 2010 he joined the Cell Death Signaling group at the Institute of Biochenistry II.
Rolf is interested in the regulation of various intracellular signaling pathways by Inhibitor of Apoptosis proteins (IAPs).
Postdoctoral fellow in the Emmy Noether Group of DFG, Institut für Biochemie II, Goethe University Medical School, Frankfurt
2006-2010
PhD thesis: Institute of Cell Biology and Immunology, University of Stuttgart.
"Regulation of the tumour suppressor protein Deleted in Liver Cancer 1 (DLC1) by phosphorylation"
2006
Diploma thesis: Institute of Cell Biology and Immunology, University of Stuttgart.
"Deleted in Liver Cancer 1, ein neues Substrat für Protein Kinase D";
2003
Student thesis: University of Waterloo, Canada
"Characterization of the Interaction between Dbf4 and Mcm2 via Two-hybrid analysis
Poster presentation
2007
Gordon research conference "Mechanisms of cell signalling", Oxford, UK
Scholarships
2002-2003
Exchange program Ontario/Baden-Württemberg
2002-2003
Scholarship of the Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg
2007-2009
Scholarship of the Landesgraduiertenförderung
Publications
Ziegler S, Eiseler T, Scholz RP, Beck A, Link G, Hausser A (2011). A novel protein kinase D phosphorylation site in the tumor suppressor Rab interactor 1 is critical for coordination of cell migration. MBoC 22: Issue 5, 570-580
Scholz RP, Gustafsson J, Hoffmann P, Jaiswal M, Ahmadian MR, Eisler SA, Erlmann P, Schmid S, Hausser A and Olayioye MA (2011). 503The tumor suppressor protein DLC1 is regulated by PKD-mediated GAP domain phosphorylation. ECR 317: Issue 4, 496-503
Scholz RP*, Regner J*, Theil A, Erlmann P, Holeiter G, Jahne R, Schmid S, Hausser A, Olayioye MA (2009). DLC1 interacts with 14-3-3 proteins to inhibit RhoGAP activity and block nucleocytoplasmic shuttling. J Cell Sci 122: 92-102
Varrin AE, Prasad AA, Scholz RP, Ramer MD, Duncker BP (2005). A mutation in Dbf4 motif M impairs interactions with DNA replication factors and confers increased resistance to genotoxic agents. Mol Cell Biol 25: 7494-504.
Tripat Kaur Oberoi
Tripat completed her bachelor's degree in Pharmacy in Punjabi University, Patiala in 2004.
She got her Master's degree in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology from National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research under the supervision of Prof. C.S. Dey.
She is currently working as a PhD student in Dr. Krishnaraj Rajalingam's lab, mainly focusing on the study the physiological roles of Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins (IAPs).
Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy (B. Pharm.) from Punjabi University (Punjab), India.
2004-2006
Master's degree (M.S. Pharm. Biotechnology) in Prof. Chinmoy S. Dey's lab. National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) (Punjab), India.
2006-2007
Project assistant in Prof. Chinmoy S. Dey's lab. National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) (Punjab), India.
2008-Present
PhD student Cell Death Signaling Group (Dr. Krishnaraj Rajalingam), Institute of Biochemistry II, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Publications:
Taner Dogan, Gregory S. Harms, Mirko Hekman, Christiaan Karreman, Tripat Kaur Oberoi, Emad S. Alnemri, Ulf R. Rapp and Krishnaraj Rajalingam. X-linked and cellular IAPs modulate the stability of C-RAF kinase and cell motility. Nat. Cell Biol. 10, 1447 - 1455 (2008).
Awards and fellowships:
2006
Gold Medal for academic excellence in M.S. (Pharm.) Biotechnology.
2004-2006
First Rank in M.S. (I, II, III & IV) Semesters, NIPER, Mohali, INDIA.
2004
IDMA G.P. Nair Award for academic excellence in B. Pharm.
2004
First Rank in B. Pharm. Final year, Punjabi University, Patiala, INDIA.
Juliane Mooz
Juliane Mooz was born in Berlin, Germany. She studied Biology at the Julius Maximilian University, Würzburg and obtained her diploma degree in 2007.
She has always been interested in scientific journalism, conveying information about the world of science to a public forum.
After finishing University, she had been involved in radio broadcasting, "Talking about science".
In 2009, she joined the lab of Dr. Krishnaraj Rajalingam, studying the regulation of Rac1 and CRAF protein stability.
Finishing school (Abitur) and starting to explore the world ever since the year
Studies
2000-2001
Social service in England
2001-2003
Undergraduate studies in biology at Würzburg University
2004-2007
Postgraduate studies at Würzburg University
including year abroad at Umeå University, Sweden (Tumor Biology) joining Simon Tuck´s lab (c.elegans) at the UCMM
fieldwork in Wales (Marine Biology) and Malaysia (Invasive Biology)
2007
Master thesis: "Modulation of cell survival by Prohibitins" under supervision of Prof. Dr. Ulf Rapp in collaboration with Dr. K. Rajalingam, Institut für Medizinische Strahlenkunde und Zellforschung
2008
"Talking about science" - exploring the field of scientific journalism via radio broadcast
2009
PhD student at the Institute of Biochemistry II J. W. Goethe University Medical School Cell Death Signaling group
(AG Rajalingam)
Carrie Anderson
Carrie obtained her BSc in Biochemistry at the University of Waterloo in Canada and completed an eight month placement at the Genome Sciences Centre in Vancouver. After graduation in 2003, she worked as a Research Technician at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute under the supervision of Dr. Rashmi Kothary, and became lab manager in 2009. She joined Dr. Krishna Rajalingam's group at the Institute of Biochemistry II as a Technical Assistant in 2011.
Michalski JP*, Anderson C*, Beauvais A, De Repentigny Y, Kothary R.
The proteolipid protein promoter drives expression outside of the oligodendrocyte lineage during embryonic and early postnatal development. PLoS One. 2011 May 10;6(5):e19772.
* Contributed equally
Bowerman M, Beauvais A, Anderson CL, Kothary R. Rho-kinase inactivation prolongs survival of an intermediate SMA mouse model. Hum Mol Genet. 2010 Apr 15;19(8):1468-78.
Bowerman M, Anderson CL, Beauvais A, Boyl PP, Witke W, Kothary R. SMN, profilin IIa and plastin 3: a link between the deregulation of actin dynamics and SMA pathogenesis. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2009 Sep;42(1):66-74.
Anderson CL, De Repentigny Y, Cifelli C, Marshall P, Renaud JM, Worton RG, Kothary R. The mouse dystrophin muscle promoter/enhancer drives expression of mini-dystrophin in transgenic mdx mice and rescues the dystrophy in these mice. Mol Ther. 2006 Nov;14(5):724-34.
Gorski SM, Chittaranjan S, Pleasance ED, Freeman JD, Anderson CL, Varhol RJ, Coughlin SM, Zuyderduyn SD, Jones SJ, Marra MA. A SAGE approach to discovery of genes involved in autophagic cell death. Curr Biol. 2003 Feb 18;13(4):358-63.
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