Research

Research Priorities: Oxidative stress, redox regulation, aging, age-related Diseases, proteostasis

Ursula Jakob is a biologist working in the fields of biochemistry and biophysics. Her research focuses on stress-related processes such as stress defense pathways in bacteria, which can be exploited for more effective antimicrobial therapies. She investigates how transient stress events experienced early in life can extend lifespan and protect organisms against age-associated diseases.

The major research focus of her lab is to understand how organisms respond to naturally occurring stress conditions, particularly elevated temperatures and increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS). One specific goal is to identify bacterial and parasitic proteins that sense and respond to these host-elicited stress conditions by altering gene expression and activating stress-specific chaperone. A better understanding of the bacterial defense mechanisms could help to develop strategies to increase the sensitivity of bacteria towards the innate immune defense of the host and to identify novel drug targets as well as to enhance the efficacy of established antibiotics.

A second major research avenue concerns the role of physiologically occurring ROS variations in aging and age-related diseases, including Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease. These studies are based on the finding that ROS, which are produced in response to metabolic, hormonal and other cues, are effective signaling molecules affecting multiple metabolic processes involved in cell growth, differentiation and proliferation.

Her research showed that natural variations of ROS, particularly during early development, can have profound, long-lasting and, most importantly, beneficial effects on lifespan and age-associated diseases. Her lab discovered the underlying mechanism by demonstrating that the epigenetic landscape is redox controlled, and early ROS accumulation causes persistent and potentially transgenerational long-term consequences.

Career

• since 2014 Collegiate Professor, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
• since 2012 Professor, Department of Biological Chemistry, Medical School, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
• since 2011 Professor, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
• 2010-2012 Associate Professor, Department of Biological Chemistry, Medical School, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
• 2007-2011 Associate Professor, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
• 2001-2007 Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
• 1999-2001 Assistant Research Scientist, Department of Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
• 1996-1998 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
• 1995 PhD summa cum laude
• 1992 Visiting Scientist, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
• 1991-1995 PhD Student, Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry Department, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
• 1990-1991 Visiting Scientist, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München, Munich, Germany
• 1986-1991 Diploma in Biology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

Functions

• 2017-2022 Associate Editor, The Journal of Biological Chemistry
• 2014-2018 Advisory Board Member, Protein Folding Disease Initiative, USA
• 2013-2017 Member, Membrane Biology and Protein Processing Study (MBPP), National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA

Projects

• 2017-2022 Principal Investigator, Project “Role of Molecular Chaperones in Stress Response and Disease”, NIH, USA
• 2019-2022 Principal Investigator, Project “Role of early epigenetic events in stress resistance and lifespan”, Glenn Foundation for Medical Research Breakthroughs in Gerontology (BIG) Award, American Federation for Aging Research, USA
• 2015-2019 Principal Investigator, Project “Polyphosphate – A Novel Member of the Proteostasis Network”, NIH, USA
• 2014-2020 Co-Principal Investigator, Project “Role of Get3 as Redox-Regulated Chaperone”, DFG, Germany
• 2014-2023 Co-Investigator, Project “A conserved and multifunctional redox switch in yeast Get3 and mammalian TRC40”, DFG, Germany
• 2014-2016 Host, Project “Characterization of hypochlorous acid as potent physiological antimicrobial”, DFG, Germany
• 2013-2018 Co-Principal Investigator, Project “Mechanism of an Acid Activated Chaperone”, NIH, USA
• 2003-2017 Principal Investigator, “Functional Analysis of the Intrinsically Disordered Chaperone Hsp33”, NIH, USA
• 2007-2012 Project “Oxidative Protein Thiol Modifications and Aging”, NIH, USA
• 2000-2005 Principal Investigator, Career Award in Biomedical Sciences (CAMS), Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF), Durham, USA

Honours and memberships

• since 2020 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, USA
• since 2020 Member, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany
• 2019 Glenn Foundation for Medical Research Breakthroughs in Gerontology (BIG) Award, American Federation for Aging Research, USA
• 2014 Member, Bavarian Academy of the Sciences and Humanities, Munich, Germany
• 2011 Faculty Recognition Award, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
• 2000 Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF), Career Award in Biomedical Sciences (CAMS), USA
• 2001 Biological Scholar Award, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
• 1998 The Margaret and Herman Sokol Fellowship, New York University, New York City, USA
• 1996 Postdoctoral Fellowship, DFG, Germany
• 1992 PhDScholarship, Academic Foundation of the German People, Germany