Our UCSF–FU Berlin online Christmas gathering 🎄

Across time zones and an ocean, we celebrate our collaboration, and reflect on how important it is to stay connected.

Grateful for this team and looking forward to strengthening this relationship further!

#ResearchCollaboration #AcademicPartnerships

New work from our group: a model of MHC-II antigen exchange on hour–day timescales shows that susceptibility to the exchange catalyst HLA-DM is proportional to the peptide–MHC-II off-rate.

Link to the publication:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#AntigenPresentation #MHCII #Immunology

Interested in doing a research project in molecular and structural biology?

The Freund Lab (Freie Universität Berlin) is always happy to hear from motivated students looking to engage in research projects.

Curious? Reach out and let’s talk!

Great scientific exchange during the October UCSF visit to Berlin

Two days of discussions on SNARE complexes, disease-relevant mutations, and approaches at the interface of structural biology and neuroscience (see attached photo).

@ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social, @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social

New initiative at TRR186 📣

As coordinators of the consortium, we’ve launched press releases for outstanding publications to increase visibility and showcase collaborative science — starting with the recent work by @cecclementi.bsky.social and others.
check it out here: 👉 www.trr186.de/en/node/186

Great discussion at this week’s TRR186 Online Seminar 🧬
— a real snapshot of how diverse approaches come together across our consortium.

We were also happy to introduce a new panel format to help connect ideas across projects.

Thanks to all speakers and participants for the open exchange. #DFG

A successful TRR 186 PhD & postdoc retreat in Berlin: 3 days of project updates, posters, workshops on “AI in Science” and publishing, plus time for community building.

Big thanks to the organizers: Tamina Werk, Ana Knez, Ali Lashkari, Yagmur Urem

Details: www.trr186.de/en/node/185

🧪 Introducing our research: MHCII antigen processing & presentation

We study how HLA-DM, HLA-DO and MHCII polymorphisms shape CD4⁺ T cell epitopes, linking the structural dynamics of peptide loading to immune recognition in infection, autoimmunity and cancer.

🔗 www.bcp.fu-berlin.de/en/chemie/bi...

Science is never a solo project.
From PhD students to our professor, lab managers, postdocs, staff scientists and scientific coordination: this is the team that makes ideas move from whiteboard to experiment. Check out our new group photo below!

Last Thursday we kicked off the #TRR186 online seminar series with a tour of our latest research: from coarse-grained MD & CD95 activation to membrane translocation, neurotransmitter release, clocks & membrane dynamics. Details: www.trr186.de/en/node/181

Hello Bluesky! 👋
We are the Freund Lab at Freie Universität Berlin. We focus on the mechanisms and molecular logic that govern the molecular interactions of proteins.

Here we’ll share our research highlights, collaborations, and a bit of lab life.

Happy to connect with the community!