Cells react to stress by alerting a variety of well known defense and repair mechanisms. A mystery so far is how the alarm is turned off. In two recent studies, we have now identified crucial enzymes involved in this process, and if one of them is missing it causes a serious neurodegenerative disease. We identified a family of macrodomain enzymes present in viruses, yeast and animals that reverse cellular ADP-ribosylation by acting on mono-ADP-ribosylated substrates. Our discoveries establish the complete reversibility of PARP-catalyzed cellular ADP-ribosylation as a regulatory modification. more

Neurodegenerative, inflammatory and vascular disorders have traditionally been studied in isolation from each other. The Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy) takes an integrative approach with a view to breaking down such artificial boundaries and unravel the interactions between the different underlying pathologies that contribute to the development of neurological disease. The central focus is to foster intense collaboration amongst 25 principal investigators across the traditional boundaries of neurodegenerative, -inflammatory and –vascular diseases. more