Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Christoph Arenz

Professional Experience (selection)

• 2004- Junior Professor for Bioorganic Chemistry, HU Berlin
• 2010-2011 Substitute Professorship for Organic Chemistry, Universität Leipzig

Scientific Scope

• miRNAs: We try to develop and discover small molecules inhibiting the maturation of specific micro RNAs upregulated in cancer.
• Sphingolipid Signaling: We develop small molecule inhibitors of enzymes involved in sphingolipid signaling.
• Hsp70: We elucidate the cancer-specific lysosomal role of Hsp70. We develop molecules that specifically interact with lysosomal Hsp70 and thus should enable lysosome-mediated cell death.

Most important Awards, Grants or Scientific Achievements

• 2010 Heisenberg Fellowship of the DFG

Selected References

• McVey, M. J., Weidenfeld, S., Maishan, M., Spring, C., Kim, M., Tabuchi, A., Srbely, V., Takabe-French, A., Simmons, S., Arenz, C., Semple, J. W., & Kuebler, W. (2020). Platelet Extracellular Vesicles mediate Transfusion-related Acute Lung Injury by imbalancing the Sphingolipid Rheostat. Blood, blood.2020005985. Advance online publication.
• Kirschbaum, C., Saied, E. M., Greis, K., Mucha, E., Gewinner, S., Schöllkopf, W., Meijer, G., von Helden, G., Poad, B., Blanksby, S. J., Arenz, C., & Pagel, K. (2020). Resolving Sphingolipid Isomers Using Cryogenic Infrared Spectroscopy. Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), 59(32), 13638–13642.
• Laraia, L., Garivet, G., Foley, D. J., Kaiser, N., Müller, S., Zinken, S., Pinkert, T., Wilke, J., Corkery, D., Pahl, A., Sievers, S., Janning, P., Arenz, C., Wu, Y., Rodriguez, R., & Waldmann, H. (2020). Image-Based Morphological Profiling Identifies a Lysosomotropic, Iron-Sequestering Autophagy Inhibitor. Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), 59(14), 5721–5729.
• Živanović, V., Seifert, S., Drescher, D., Schrade, P., Werner, S., Guttmann, P., Szekeres, G. P., Bachmann, S., Schneider, G., Arenz, C., & Kneipp, J. (2019). Optical Nanosensing of Lipid Accumulation due to Enzyme Inhibition in Live Cells. ACS nano, 13(8), 9363–9375.
• Vasiliauskaité-Brooks, I., Healey, R. D., Rochaix, P., Saint-Paul, J., Sounier, R., Grison, C., Waltrich-Augusto, T., Fortier, M., Hoh, F., Saied, E. M., Arenz, C., Basu, S., Leyrat, C., & Granier, S. (2018). Structure of a human intramembrane ceramidase explains enzymatic dysfunction found in leukodystrophy. Nature communications, 9(1), 5437.
• Vasiliauskaité-Brooks, I., Sounier, R., Rochaix, P., Bellot, G., Fortier, M., Hoh, F., De Colibus, L., Bechara, C., Saied, E. M., Arenz, C., Leyrat, C., & Granier, S. (2017). Structural insights into adiponectin receptors suggest ceramidase activity. Nature, 544(7648), 120–123.
• Pinkert, T., Furkert, D., Korte, T., Herrmann, A., & Arenz, C. (2017). Amplification of a FRET Probe by Lipid-Water Partition for the Detection of Acid Sphingomyelinase in Live Cells. Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), 56(10), 2790–2794.
• Kirkegaard, T., Gray, J., Priestman, D. A., Wallom, K. L., Atkins, J., Olsen, O. D., Klein, A., Drndarski, S., Petersen, N. H., Ingemann, L., Smith, D. A., Morris, L., Bornæs, C., Jørgensen, S. H., Williams, I., Hinsby, A., Arenz, C., Begley, D., Jäättelä, M., & Platt, F. M. (2016). Heat shock protein-based therapy as a potential candidate for treating the sphingolipidoses. Science translational medicine, 8(355), 355ra118.
• Wetzel, S., Wilk, W., Chammaa, S., Sperl, B., Roth, A. G., Yektaoglu, A., Renner, S., Berg, T., Arenz, C., Giannis, A., Oprea, T. I., Rauh, D., Kaiser, M., & Waldmann, H. (2010). A scaffold-tree-merging strategy for prospective bioactivity annotation of gamma-pyrones. Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), 49(21), 3666–3670.
• Kirkegaard, T., Roth, A. G., Petersen, N. H., Mahalka, A. K., Olsen, O. D., Moilanen, I., Zylicz, A., Knudsen, J., Sandhoff, K., Arenz, C., Kinnunen, P. K., Nylandsted, J., & Jäättelä, M. (2010). Hsp70 stabilizes lysosomes and reverts Niemann-Pick disease-associated lysosomal pathology. Nature, 463(7280), 549–553.
• Roth, A. G., Drescher, D., Yang, Y., Redmer, S., Uhlig, S., & Arenz, C. (2009). Potent and selective inhibition of acid sphingomyelinase by bisphosphonates. Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), 48(41), 7560–7563.
• Davies, B. P., & Arenz, C. (2006). A homogenous assay for micro RNA maturation. Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), 45(33), 5550–5552.