flashMOOCs – Interactive Educational Videos

Experts

Oliver Mühlemann

Oliver Mühlemann is professor of biochemistry at the University of Bern and the director of the Swiss National Science Foundation National Center of Competence in Research (SNSF-NCCR) "RNA & Disease". He co-initiated the “Elucidation of Selective Motor Neuron Death in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)” project and is co-leading the project "Structure and Function of the Human Ribonucleosome".

Mühlemann’s research interests include understanding posttranscriptional mechanisms of gene expression in mammalian cells. Early in his career, he performed pioneering investigations into the roles of SR proteins in the regulation of splicing. More recently, his laboratory has become internationally recognized for its work on elucidating the mechanism of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) and its biological roles in gene regulation.

His Video

RNA – The Future of Medicine

The genetic disorder discussed in this video was considered incurable and fatal for a long time. Particularly affected were children, whose muscles atrophied as the disease progressed. But scientist came up with a revolutionary therapy: A synthetic RNA molecule helps children to regain control over their muscles.

Interactive video

Participating institutions

NCCR - RNA & Disease

Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences (DCBP)

Selected publications

S. Nasif, M. Colombo, A.-C. Uldry, M.S. Schröder, S. de Brot and O. Mühlemann (2023) Inhibition of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay reduces the tumorigenicity of human fibrosarcoma cells NAR Cancer, 5(3), zcad048
L.-A. Gurzeler, M. Link, Y. Ibig, I. Schmidt, O. Galuba, J Schoenbett, C Gasser-Didierlaurant, C.N. Parker, X. Mao, F. Bitsch, M. Schirle, P. Couttet, F. Sigoillot, J. Ziegelmüller, A.-C. Uldry, W. Teodorowicz, N. Schmiedeberg, O. Mühlemann and J. Reinhardt (2023) Drug-induced eRF1 degradation promotes readthrough and reveals a new branch of ribosome quality control  Cell Rep, 42(9), 113056
M. Domanski, E. Dedic, M. Escura Pérez, A. Cléry, S. Campagne, A.-C. Uldry, S. Braga, M. Heller, J. Rabl, P. Afanasyev, D. Boehringer, J. Novácek, F.H.T Allain and O. Mühlemann (2022) 40S hnRNP particles are a novel class of nuclear biomolecular condensates Nucleic Acids Res, 50(11), 6300-6312
L.-A. Gurzeler, J. Ziegelmüller, O. Mühlemann and E.D. Karousis (2022) Production of human translation-competent lysates using dual centrifugation RNA Biol, 19(1), 78-88
E.D. Karousis, F. Gypas, M. Zavolan and O. Mühlemann (2021) Nanopore sequencing reveals endogenous NMD-targeted isoforms in human cells Genome Biol, 22(1), 223
L. Contu, G. Balistreri, M. Domanski, A.-C. Uldry and O. Mühlemann (2021) Characterisation of the Semliki Forest Virus-host cell interactome reveals the viral capsid protein as an inhibitor of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay PLoS Pathog, 17(5), e1009603
G. Annibaldis, M. Domanski, R. Dreos, L. Contu, S. Carl, N. Kläy and O. Mühlemann (2020) Readthrough of stop codons under limiting ABCE1 concentration involves frameshifting and inhibits nonsense-mediated mRNA decay Nucleic Acids Res, 48(18):10259-10279
K. Schubert, E.D. Karousis, A. Jomaa, A. Scaiola, B. Echeverria, L.A. Gurzeler, M. Leibundgut, V.  Thiel, O. Mühlemann and N. Ban (2020) SARS-CoV-2 Nsp1 binds the ribosomal mRNA channel to inhibit translation Nat Struct Mol Biol, 27(10):959-966
E.D. Karousis, L.A. Gurzeler, G. Annibaldis, R. Dreos, O. Mühlemann (2020) Human NMD ensues independently of stable ribosome stalling Nat Commun, 11(1):4134
L. Contu, S. Steiner, V. Thiel and O. Mühlemann (2019) The Role of Stress Granules and the Nonsense-mediated mRNA Decay Pathway in Antiviral Defence Chimia 73(6),374-379