ERC starting grant - Carina Mann

Carina Baer de Oliveira Mann receives ERC starting grant

Cyclic nucleotides are of essential importance to the cell as secondary neurotransmitters. They amplify signals within the cell and route the signals to the right destinations in order for example to trigger immune responses or regulated processes such as cell-fate decisions. Cyclic GMP-AMP (cGAMP) is the only cyclic dinucleotide known to exist in humans up to now. It is considered to be a highly promising candidate for the development of medications, for example in the fight against cancer or as a supporting substances in vaccines. In their project "NTase Products and Cyclic Nucleotide Signaling" Prof. Carina Baer de Oliveira Mann and her team are searching for further cyclic nucleotides. To do so they are developing and testing methods which activate certain enzymes in the family of the nucleotidyltransferases (NTases), which can among other things produce cyclic dinucleotides. As soon as they are activated, in the next step the researchers can analyze their products and thus identify new cyclic nucleotides and their signal paths.

Please check out the press release from the TUM.