Save the date! On August second 5p.m. in H53, Mandy Jeske from the EMBL in Heidelberg will give a talk entitled: Exploring molecular mechanisms in the germ plasm.

Germ cells are an integral part of sexual reproduction. To segregate the germline from soma, during early development many animals assemble a specialized cytoplasm, which is called germ plasm. The molecular mechanisms that take place in and define the germ plasm are poorly understood.

In her talk Mandy Jeske from the EMBL in Heidelberg will discuss molecular functions of the Drosophila germ plasm nucleation protein Oskar. She will present the recently solved crystal structures of Oskar and discuss activities of previously uncharacterized protein domains. Furthermore, she will address the molecular functions of Vasa, a germ-line specific DEAD-box RNA helicase involved in the secondary piRNA pathway, and how a novel class of protein domains regulates Vasa’s enzymatic activity.

We are very much looking forward to Mandy’s visit, a fascinating talk and exciting discussions!