We are a team of scientists working at the frontier of organic chemistry to other disciplines like biological chemistry and structural biology. We focus on the implementation of small molecules as tools to study complex biological systems. In our current projects, we design 13C, 15N and 2H labeled metabolic amino acid precursor compounds, which can be used in cell-based protein overexpression. The target proteins show distinguished isotope patterns and represent valuable probes for biomolecular NMR experiments. Learn more about our research, see some structures of our labeled precursor compounds or read through our list of publications. If you need further information or want to collaborate on an interesting research topic don't hesitate to write to roman.lichtenecker@univie.ac.at.

 

Moreover, we are very active in teaching different aspects of chemistry at the University of Vienna with currently 5 lectures and 2 seminars per year.  We additionally offer courses for advanced chemistry students within the context of our research projects.

 

The project "Allospace" is funded by the FWF-ANR (project I5812).

Together with collaboration partners from France (D. Madern - CNRS; G. Santoni - ESRF; C. Brochier-Armanet - Univ. Lyon; F. Sterpone - CNRS; C. Barette - CEA) and Austria (P. Schanda - ISTA) we investigate the mechanisms and evolutionary origin of enzymatic allostery.

We are now part of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for knowledge-based structural biology and biotechnology

Together with our partner Prof. Robert Konrat (Univ. Vienna) and our industry collaborator Boeringer-Ingelheim, we investigate novel ways to probe the interaction of biomolecules using NMR techniques.

Recent publications

The synthesis of specifically isotope labelled Fluorotryptophan and its use in mammalian cell-based protein expression for 19F-NMR applications.

Chem. Commun. 2024, DOI: 10.1039/D4CC04789C

G. Toscano, M. Rosati, L. Barbieri, K. Maier, L. Banci, E. Luchinat, R. Konrat, R.J. Lichtenecker

Synthesis of a 13C/2H Labeled Building Block to Probe the Phosphotyrosine Interactome Using Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy.

ChemBioChem 2024, doi.org/10.1002/cbic.202400663

S. Kratzwald, Thomas C. Schwarz, K. Ledolter, M. Hlavac, M. Felkl, C.F.W. Becker, R. Konrat, R.J. Lichtenecker

 

Characterization of conformational states of the homodimeric enzyme fluoroacetate dehalogenase by 19F-13C two-dimensional NMR.

RSC Chem. Biol. 2024, doi: 10.1039/d4cb00176a

M. Suleiman, G.A. Frere, R. Törner, L. Tabunar, G.V. Bohle, K. Taverner, N. Tsuchimura, D. Pichugin, R.J. Lichtenecker, O. Vozny, P. Gunning, H. Arthanari, R.S. Prosser

 

Towards cost-effective-chain isotope labelling of proteins expressed in human cells.

J. Biomol. NMR 2024, doi.org/10.1007/s10858-024-00447-6

M. Rosati, L. Barbieri, M. Hlavac, S. Kratzwald, R.J. Lichtenecker, R. Konrat, E. Luchinat and L. Banci

Probing Protein-Ligand Methyl-Pi Interaction Geometries through Chemical Shift Measurements of Selectively Labeled Methyl Groups.

J. Med. Chem. 2024, 67, 15, 13187.

A. Beier, G. Platzer, T. Höfurthner, A.L. Ptaszek, R.J. Lichtenecker, L. Geist, J.E. Fuchs, D.B. McConnell, M. Mayer and R. Konrat

Exploring the pH dependence of an improved PETase.

Biophys. J. 2024, doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2024.04.026

C. Charlier, S. Gavalda, J. Grga, L. Perrot, V. Gabrielli, F. Löhr, J. Schörghuber, R. Lichtenecker, G. Arnal, A. Marty, V. Tournier, G. Lippens*

Decorating phenylalanine side-chains with triple labeled 13C/19F/2H isotope patterns.

J. Biomol. NMR 2024, doi.org/10.1007/s10858-024-00440-z

G. Toscano, J. Holzinger, B. Nagl, G. Kontaxis, H. Kählig, R. Konrat and R.J. Lichtenecker

13Cβ-Valine and 13Cγ-Leucine Methine Labeling To Probe Protein Ligand Interaction.

ChemBioChem 2024, doi.org/10.1002/cbic.202300762

G. Toscano, T. Höfurthner, B. Nagl, A. Beier, M. Mayer, L. Geist, D.B. McConnell, H. Weinstabl, R. Konrat, R.J. Lichtenecker

 

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Recent Group News

Giorgia Toscano (Lichtenecker group) and Alexandra Ptaszek (Konrat group) are the new awardees in the "New Ideas" program of the Doctoral" School in Chemistry of our Faculty. Their project Automating Methyl Assignment in Protein NMR by Machine Learning Chemical Shift Predictions and Isotopic Labelling will be funded within the DoSChem with a duration of three months.

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