Staff Members of the Institute of Biochemistry, TU - Institut für ...

Highlights of 2009
In April 2009 the restructuring of the Faculty of Technical Chemistry, Chemical Engineering
and Biotechnology resulted in a partial reunification of the Institute of Food Chemistry and
Technology with the Institute of Biochemistry. During this reshaping Michael Murkovic with
his research group "Chemistry of Functional Foods” joined the Institute of Biochemistry.
The research group of Michael Murkovic is mainly interested in
the evaluation of reaction mechanisms in foods with respect to the
reactivity of antioxidants in relation to the formation of
carcinogenic substance during heating of foods. Merging of the
two research units has led to a reinforcement of the infrastructure
with emphasis on techniques of liquid chromatography and the
identification of small molecules.
As in the years before, the group of Peter Macheroux was very active in publishing their
research results in scientific journals. Among the published articles, one was again selected as
best paper of the week by the editors of the Journal of Biological Chemistry (“Hold on to that
flavin” published in July). This publication also marked the end of a very successful PhD
thesis project submitted by Andreas Winkler who left the institute and joined the Max-Planck-
Institute of Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany, as an EMBO long-term postdoctoral
fellow. Just before Christmas, Peter Macheroux was awarded the Styrian Research Award for
studies on redox-regulated degradation of proteins by the quinone reductase-proteasome
complex. This project dates back to Peter Macheroux’ early days at the institute and was
supported by several outstanding students and postdocs, most notably Sonja Sollner, Andrea
Wagner, Sigrid Deller and Markus Schober.
P. Macheroux (right), Styrian Research Award 2009
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G. Daum (right), Euro Fed Lipid Conference 2009
As in previous years, research in the laboratory of Günther Daum was supported by grants of
the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). In 2009, a new project devoted to “Phosphatidylserine
Decarboxylases of the Yeast” started with two new graduate students, Martina Gsell and Vid
V. Flis. In 2009, another project named ACIB (Austrian Center of Industrial Biotechnology)
supported by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and industry was approved. In
this joint project Günther Daum’s group will be involved in applied research devoted to
Pichia pastoris cell biology. Another highlight of 2009 was the Euro Fed Lipid Conference
(European Federation for the Science and Technology of Lipids) which was held in October