Dr. Gunter Merdes

Gunter Merdes studied Biology at the University of Heidelberg and received his PhD from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in 1998. The same year he joined the laboratory of Prof. Renato Paro at the ZMBH as a postdoctoral researcher. Since 2001 he is associated with Prof. Paro as a group leader recruiting his own funding and co-workers, and moved to the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering of the ETH Zürich (2006).

His research is at the interface of Drosophila genetics, and developmental and molecular biology with medicine. He is using the Drosophila melanogaster model
system to obtain insights into the mechanisms underlying cancer and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease. The studies of his group let to the discovery of new functions of the Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) during nervous system development and provided new insights into the regulation of Presenilin-mediated cleavage of transmembrane proteins.

He maintains active research projects in these fields, but recently shifted his focus on a systems biology approach to dissect the Notch signaling pathway and its link to cancer development and other human diseases.

Current Group Members

Dr. Alexander Schwahn (Postdoc)
Dr. Simona Beisel (Technical Assistance)
Enikő Molnár (Technical Assistance)

Former Group Members

Abil Saj (PhD student)
Satbir Gill (PhD student)
Denise Stempfle (PhD student)
Cem Sievers (Studienarbeit)
Michaela Bilic (PhD student)
Alex Loewer (Diploma and PhD student)
David Kuttenkeuler (Diploma student)
Stephanie Panier (Diploma student)
Alexandra Wojtalla (Diploma student)
Melanie Müller (Technical Assistance)
Heidi Ehret (Technical Assistance)

Publications

Saj, A., Arziman, Z., Stempfle, D., van Belle, W., Sauder, U., Horn, T., Dürrenberger, M., Paro, R., Boutros, M. and Merdes, G.
A combined ex vivo and in vivo RNAi screen of Notch signaling in Drosophila reveals an extensive interaction network.
Developmental Cell 2010 May;18(5):862-876.

Stempfle, D., Kanwar, R., Loewer, A., Fortini, ME., and Merdes, G.
In vivo reconstitution of γ-Secretase in Drosophila results in substrate specificity.
Molecular and Cellular Biology 2010 Jul; 30(13):3165-3175.

Merdes G, Paro R.
About combs, notches, and tumors: Epigenetics meets signaling.
Dev Cell. 2009 Oct;17(4):440-2.

Rusu P, Jansen A, Soba P, Kirsch J, Löwer A, Merdes G, Kuan YH, Jung A, Beyreuther K, Kjaerulff O, Kins S.
Axonal accumulation of synaptic markers in APP transgenic Drosophila depends on the NPTY motif and is paralleled by defects in synaptic plasticity.
Eur J Neurosci. 2007 Feb;25(4):1079-86.

Tsruya R, Wojtalla A, Carmon S, Yogev S, Reich A, Bibi E, Merdes G, Schejter E, Shilo BZ.
Rhomboid cleaves Star to regulate the levels of secreted Spitz.
EMBO J. 2007 Mar 7;26(5):1211-20. Epub 2007 Feb 15.

Soba P, Eggert S, Wagner K, Zentgraf H, Siehl K, Kreger S, Löwer A,
Langer A, Merdes G, Paro R, Masters CL, Müller U, Kins S, Beyreuther K.
Homo- and heterodimerization of APP family members promotes intercellular adhesion.
EMBO J. 2005 Oct 19;24(20):3624-34. Epub 2005 Sep 29.

Merdes G, Soba P, Loewer A, Bilic MV, Beyreuther K, Paro R.
Interference of human and Drosophila APP and APP-like proteins with PNS development in Drosophila.
EMBO J. 2004 Oct 13;23(20):4082-95. Epub 2004 Sep 23.

Loewer A, Soba P, Beyreuther K, Paro R, Merdes G.
Cell-type-specific processing of the amyloid precursor protein by Presenilin during Drosophila development.
EMBO Rep. 2004 Apr;5(4):405-11.

Kalmes A, Merdes G, Neumann B, Strand D, Mechler BM.
A serine-kinase associated with the p127-l(2)gl tumour suppressor of Drosophila may regulate the binding of p127 to nonmuscle myosin II heavy chain and the attachment of p127 to the plasma membrane.
J Cell Sci. 1996 Jun;109 ( Pt 6):1359-68.

Strand D, Unger S, Corvi R, Hartenstein K, Schenkel H, Kalmes A, Merdes G, Neumann B, Krieg-Schneider F, Coy JF, et al.
A human homologue of the Drosophila tumour suppressor gene l(2)gl maps to 17p11.2-12 and codes for a cytoskeletal protein that associates with nonmuscle myosin II heavy chain.
Oncogene. 1995 Jul 20;11(2):291-301.

Strand D, Jakobs R, Merdes G, Neumann B, Kalmes A, Heid HW, Husmann I, Mechler BM.
The Drosophila lethal(2)giant larvae tumor suppressor protein forms homo-oligomers and is associated with nonmuscle myosin II heavy chain.
J Cell Biol. 1994 Dec;127(5):1361-73.