Working group Prof. Dr. Ursula Seidler

The research activities focus on four main areas:

1. the study of the molecular mechanisms that control the epithelial barrier and the pH micromilieu in gastrointestinal epithelia;
2. investigation of the regulation of epithelial ion channels and acid/base transporters in healthy and diseased gastrointestinal epithelia;
3. the molecular analysis of compartmentalization and multi-protein signaling complex formation in the transport regulation of gastrointestinal epithelia.
4. The search for new therapy options for the GI problems of patients with cystic fibrosis, inflammatory bowel disease, infectious diarrhea and primary sclerosing cholangitis and cancer.

The working group investigates the structure-function relationships, membrane trafficking and the formation of multiprotein complexes in the regulation of intestinal acid/base transporters and during the differentiation of intestinal epithelial cells in health and in different pathological states.

Fluorescent dyes, electrophysiologic and immunohistochemical investigations, time-lapse confocal imaging, multiphoton laser scanning microscopy and the manipulation/modulation of gene expression by small interfering RNA and Crispr/Cas9 gene editing are used to investigate such processes in native epithelia. Immunoprecipitation and proteomics analyses are employed to elucidate the composition of multiprotein signaling complexes in the brush border membrane, at cell junctions, and at cell-matrix interactions.