Career

• 2023 Habilitation “Power of SUMO: Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier (SUMO) in Cellular Physiology and Pathophysiology”
  Inaugural lecture SUMO and Muscle : The mysterious cousin of ubiqitin „got the power”.
• 2017: Principal Investigator of the Chromatin and SUMO physiology group, Institute of Molecular and Cell Physiology, Medical School Hannover.
• 2011 - 2017:  Postdoctoral Postdoctoral researcher in Goethe University Frankfurt.
• 2009 – 2011: Research associate, University of Cambridge.
• 2008-2009: Career Development Fellow (CDF), MRC-LMB, Cambridge.
• 2004-2008: PhD in the University of Würzburg.
• 2001-2003: Junior Research Fellow in National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), India.
• 1999-2001: Master in Zoology (specialization in Molecular, Applied and Clinical Genetics) in BHU, in Banaras Hindu University India.
• 1996-1999: Bachelor in Zoology (with Chemistry and Botany), University of Burdwan, India.

Main Research Focus

Cell biology, Cachexia, Chromatin & Epigenetics, Mitosis, Molecular motor protein, Proteomics, Stem cells, SUMOylation, Striated muscle physiology, Single molecule studies of molecular motor proteins

Third party funding

Individual Research Grants- German Research Foundation (DFG).
Individual Research Grants- German Cancer Aid (DKH).

Selecteted publications (*corresponding author)

• Gand LV, Lanzuolo C, Li M, Rosti V, Weber N, Lu D, Bar C, Thum T, Pich A, Kraft T, Amrute-Nayak M, Nayak A* (2025) Calcium Handling Machinery and Sarcomere Assembly are Impaired Through Multipronged Mechanisms in Cancer Cytokine-Induced Cachexia. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle 16: e13776
• Khan B, Lanzuolo C, Rosti V, Santarelli P, Pich A, Kraft T, Amrute-Nayak M, Nayak A*  (2024) Sorafenib induces cachexia by impeding transcriptional signaling of the SET1/MLL complex on muscle-specific genes. iScience 27: 110913
• Wang T, Nayak A, Kraft T, Amrute-Nayak M (2024) Single-Molecule Investigation of Load-Dependent Actomyosin Dissociation Kinetics for Cardiac and Slow Skeletal Myosin. Small 20: e2406865
• Spahiu E, Uta P, Kraft T, Nayak A*, Amrute-Nayak M (2024) Influence of native thin filament type on the regulation of atrial and ventricular myosin motor activity. J Biol Chem 300: 107854
• Khan B, Gand LV, Amrute-Nayak M, Nayak A* (2023) Emerging Mechanisms of Skeletal Muscle Homeostasis and Cachexia: The SUMO Perspective. Cells 12
• Amrute-Nayak M, Gand LV, Khan B, Holler T, Kefalakes E, Kosanke M, Kraft T, Nayak A* (2022) SENP7 deSUMOylase-governed transcriptional program coordinates sarcomere assembly and is targeted in muscle atrophy. Cell Rep 41: 111702
• Wang T, Spahiu E, Osten J, Behrens F, Grunhagen F, Scholz T, Kraft T, Nayak A*, Amrute-Nayak M (2022) Cardiac ventricular myosin and slow skeletal myosin exhibit dissimilar chemomechanical properties despite bearing the same myosin heavy chain isoform. J Biol Chem 298: 102070
• Wang T, Brenner B, Nayak A*, Amrute-Nayak M (2020) Acto-Myosin Cross-Bridge Stiffness Depends on the Nucleotide State of Myosin II. Nano Lett 20: 7506-7512
• Amrute-Nayak M, Pegoli G, Holler T, Lopez-Davila AJ, Lanzuolo C, Nayak A* (2020) Chemotherapy triggers cachexia by deregulating synergetic function of histone-modifying enzymes. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle
• Nayak A*, Amrute-Nayak M (2020) SUMO system - a key regulator in sarcomere organization. FEBS J 287: 2176-2190
• Nayak A, Wang T, Franz P, Steffen W, Chizhov I, Tsiavaliaris G, Amrute-Nayak M (2020) Single-molecule analysis reveals that regulatory light chains fine-tune skeletal myosin II function. J Biol Chem 295: 7046-7059
• Nayak A*, Lopez-Davila AJ, Kefalakes E, Holler T, Kraft T, Amrute-Nayak M (2019) Regulation of SETD7 Methyltransferase by SENP3 Is Crucial for Sarcomere Organization and Cachexia. Cell Rep 27: 2725-2736 e4
• Amrute-Nayak M, Nayak A, Steffen W, Tsiavaliaris G, Scholz T, Brenner B (2019) Transformation of the Nonprocessive Fast Skeletal Myosin II into a Processive Motor. Small 15: e1804313
• Nayak A*, Reck A, Morsczeck C, Muller S (2017) Flightless-I governs cell fate by recruiting the SUMO isopeptidase SENP3 to distinct HOX genes. Epigenetics Chromatin 10: 15
• Jung J, Nayak A, Schaeffer V, Starzetz T, Kirsch AK, Muller S, Dikic I, Mittelbronn M, Behrends C (2017) Multiplex image-based autophagy RNAi screening identifies SMCR8 as ULK1 kinase activity and gene expression regulator. Elife 6
• Brandes RP, Harenkamp S, Schurmann C, Josipovic I, Rashid B, Rezende F, Lowe O, Moll F, Epah J, Eresch J, Nayak A, Kopaliani I, Penski C, Mittelbronn M, Weissmann N, Schroder K (2016) The Cytosolic NADPH Oxidase Subunit NoxO1 Promotes an Endothelial Stalk Cell Phenotype. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 36: 1558-65
• Muller S, Nayak A* (2016) Inhibition of MLL1 histone methyltransferase brings the developmental clock back to naive pluripotency. Stem Cell Investig 3: 58
• Tamura N, Simon JE, Nayak A, Shenoy R, Hiroi N, Boilot V, Funahashi A, Draviam VM (2015) A proteomic study of mitotic phase-specific interactors of EB1 reveals a role for SXIP-mediated protein interactions in anaphase onset. Biol Open 4: 155-69
• Nayak A, Muller S (2014) SUMO-specific proteases/isopeptidases: SENPs and beyond. Genome Biol 15: 422
• Nayak A, Viale-Bouroncle S, Morsczeck C, Muller S (2014) The SUMO-specific isopeptidase SENP3 regulates MLL1/MLL2 methyltransferase complexes and controls osteogenic differentiation. Mol Cell 55: 47-58
• Raman N, Nayak A, Muller S (2014) mTOR signaling regulates nucleolar targeting of the SUMO-specific isopeptidase SENP3. Mol Cell Biol 34: 4474-84
• Raman N, Nayak A, Muller S (2013) The SUMO system: a master organizer of nuclear protein assemblies. Chromosoma 122: 475-85
• Nayak A, Glockner-Pagel J, Vaeth M, Schumann JE, Buttmann M, Bopp T, Schmitt E, Serfling E, Berberich-Siebelt F (2009) Sumoylation of the transcription factor NFATc1 leads to its subnuclear relocalization and interleukin-2 repression by histone deacetylase. J Biol Chem 284: 10935-46
• Schmidt D, Nayak A, Schumann JE, Schimpl A, Berberich I, Berberich-Siebelt F (2008) Blimp-1Deltaexon7: a naturally occurring Blimp-1 deletion mutant with auto-regulatory potential. Exp Cell Res 314: 3614-27

Awards

• Individual research grants from DFG and DKH
• Best talk award at 6th UCT science day (Goethe University Frankfurt, september 2014)
• Fritz Thyseen foundation research fellowship for my postdoctoral study.
• Career Development Fellowship (CDF) award from MRC-LMB, Cambridge, UK.
• Best poster award at EMBO conference on chromatin and epigenetics 2007, EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany
• Fellowships from Graduate School of Immunomodulation (Würzburg University) and Hannover Biomedical Research School (HBRS, MHH) Germany for doctoral studies.
• Junior Research Fellowship award by CSIR (Center for Scientific and Industrial Research)- NET (National Eligibility Test), India.
• GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test for Engineering) fellowship.
• Junior research fellowship by NCCS Pune, India.
• National Talent Search scholarship, India.

Invited talk presentation in international conferences:

• Invited speaker at EMBO meeting in skeletal muscle development, metabolism, and repair during homeostasis and disease (October 2024, Sicily, Italy).
• Invited speaker at EMBO conference (SUMOylation: From discovery to translation), Povoa de Varzim, Portugal (September 2023)
• Invited speaker at CCC-N (Comprehensive Cancer Center-Niedersachsen) (2022)
• 100th annual meeting of the German Physiological Society (DPG) (Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2021)
• Gordon Research conference on Myogenesis, Lucca Italy (2019).
• Invited speaker at Indian Institute of Scientific Education & Research (IISER-Kolkata, 2018).
• Invited speaker at International conference on Epigenetics und Chromatin (Frankfurt, 2017).
• Invited speaker at Indian Institute of Scientific Education & Research (IISER-Pune, 2015)
• UCT Science Day Symposium (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, 2014).
• DFG-Konferenz in Zeuthen (2013).
• Cambridge Cancer Centre meeting, Cambridge (UK, 2010).
• EMBO-conference on Chromatin und Epigenetics (EMBL Heidelberg 2007).

Collaborations

• Dr. Chiara Luanzolo
  Institute of Biomedical Technologies (ITB)-CNR, Chromatin and Nuclear architecture Laboratory, at Istituto Nazionale di Genetica Molecolare "Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi”  Milan, Italy
• Prof. Riikka Kivela
  Stem Cells and Metabolism Research Program, Faculty of Medicine. University of Helsinki, Finland. Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences. University of Jyväskylä, Finland 
• Dr. Julien Gondin 
  Institut NeuroMyoGène (INMG) Physiopathologie et Génétique du Neurone et du Muscle (PGNM) UMR CNRS 5261 – INSERM U1315, Lyon, France.
• Prof. Dr. med. Michael Heuser
  Department of Hematology, Hemostasis, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Hannover Medical School
• Prof. Dr. Christian Bär
  Institute of Molecular and Translational Therapeutic Strategies, Hannover Medical School, German

Teaching

• Practical courses for medical students (Human medicine and dentists)
• Seminars for medical students
• Practical courses for biology students
• Practical courses for MSc “Biomedicine” students
• PhD theses in Biology and Medicine
• From 2012-2016, annual practical course-work in Biochemistry for medical students in Universitäts Klinikum, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt.
• 2006 and 2007, practical/teaching course in T-cell activation and confocal microscopy in Würzburg University (Germany).