Max Planck Scientist Dr Katharina Höfer receives LOEWE top professorship at the University of Marburg
The national programme is providing €2.8 million to support research into how RNA modifications alter the metabolism of bacteria
Dr Katharina Höfer, microbiologist at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg, has received a LOEWE top professorship at the University of Marburg. The research funding programme LOEWE of the state of Hesse is providing around 2.8 million euros over a period of five years for research into the role of RNA modifications in biology and newer mechanisms of gene regulation.
"Dr Katharina Höfer and her team are on the trail of new biomolecules. With their cutting-edge research, they are working on fundamentally new tools for regulating cellular processes. In the long term, this could lead to the development of next-generation RNA therapeutics," said Science Minister Timon Gremmels. "After successfully obtaining one of the prestigious ERC Starting Grants in 2023, Dr Höfer will now further sharpen the strategic profile of the University Marburg with the LOEWE top professorship."
Many people are only familiar with the four different building blocks of ribonucleic acid, or RNA for short - the central molecule of life - from their biology lessons. Dr Katharina Höfer is a researcher into the functional characterisation of RNA and has been instrumental in the discovery of another building block - the redox factor nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) - in bacteria. Her work aims to understand the role of RNA modifications in biology and to discover new mechanisms of gene regulation. Dr Höfer is investigating how RNA modifications affect the global carbon cycle and how they can be used to develop efficient synthetic pathways for carbon fixation. Her research on NAD-RNA also has potential applications in medicine, vaccine development and pharmaceutical technology.
Prof Dr Thomas Nauss, President of the Philipps University of Marburg: "Katharina Höfer's pioneering and highly innovative scientific achievements are a great asset to the University of Marburg. With her interdisciplinary approach, she builds bridges as a researcher and strengthens the strategic profile of the Philipps-Universität Marburg with her outstanding basic research at the interface of three areas: Microbiology, Biodiversity and Climate", "Inflammation, Immunology, Tumour Biology" and "Virology and Infection Biology". Furthermore, she will make an important contribution to the Marburg Excellence Cluster project M4C. We are delighted that, with the support of the state's LOEWE programme, we have been able to retain such a committed and internationally renowned young scientist at the University of Marburg."
After studying molecular biotechnology, Dr Höfer completed her PhD at the Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Heidelberg in 2017. Since 2020, she has led a junior research group at the Centre for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO) at the Philipps University of Marburg and a Max Planck Research Group "Bacterial Epitranscriptomics" at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg.
With LOEWE Top Professorships, excellent, internationally recognised researchers can receive between 1.5 and 3 million euros for five years to equip their professorship. LOEWE start professorships are aimed at excellent scientists at an early stage in their careers who are to be attracted to or retained in Hessen as a centre of science and research with funding of up to two million euros over a period of six years.
The LOEWE Transfer Professorships, currently in the pilot phase, support researchers in developing application-oriented results in cooperation with partners from practice in such a way that they successfully contribute to solving social, cultural or economic problems. The funding amount is up to one million euros to equip a professorship for five years. All information on the LOEWE programme, including the professorships awarded so far, can be found at loewe.hessen.de.
Source: Press Office, University of Marburg
