Markus Zweckstetter

Prof. Dr. Markus Zweckstetter is a Group Leader at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Göttingen, Germany. His research focuses on understanding the three-dimensional structure of biomolecules and how conformational changes lead to neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Zweckstetter's research interests include:

• Protein structure and folding mechanisms
• Aberrant protein conformations including liquid-liquid phase separated states, soluble oligomers, and amyloid fibrils
• Tau protein structure and its role in Alzheimer's disease
• Alpha-synuclein research related to Parkinson's disease
• NMR spectroscopy for high-resolution structural analysis

His laboratory combines biophysical analysis, particularly high-resolution NMR spectroscopy, with biochemical experiments and collaborates to translate findings into cellular and animal models of neurodegenerative diseases. His work has established mechanisms of liquid-liquid phase separation in Tau proteins and provided unprecedented insights into the structural polymorphism of Tau and its interaction with microtubules.

Dr. Zweckstetter has made significant contributions including determining the three-dimensional structure of misfolded cytotoxic monomers of transthyretin, characterizing the interaction of proteins with Hsp90, and elucidating the 3D structure of the translocator protein TSPO in complex with diagnostic ligands.