Göttingen Graduate Center for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences

Stark, Holger, Prof. Dr.


  • 1996 Dr. rer. nat. (Biochemistry) Free University of Berlin
  • 1997-1998 Postdoc (Laboratory of Marin van Heel, Imperial College, London)
  • 1998-1999 Junior group leader, University of Marburg
  • 2000-2004 Junior group leader, Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry
  • 2005 BioFuture group leader, Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry
  • 2005-2007 BioFuture group leader
  • 2007 – 2015 Professor for Molecular Electron Cryomicroscopy, University Göttingen and director of the Dept. Structural Dynamics, Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry
  • since 2015 Director at the Max-Planck-Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences (former MPI for Biophysical Chemistry) and honorary professor at the University of Göttingen



Major Research Interests
Our group is mainly interested in the three-dimensional structure determination of large macromolecular complexes by single-particle cryo-EM. We work on macromolecular complexes related to mRNA processing (ribosome, spliceosome, snRNPs) and large metabolic enzymes (fatty acid synthase, pyruvate dehydrogenase). We are developing novel biochemical strategies for the isolation and stabilization of complexes, as well as improving electron microscopic imaging. We are also developing novel software strategies for computational image analysis to improve resolution and quality of cryo-EM structures. The combination of these methods allows us to determine the 3D structures of large and dynamic macromolecules with unprecedented resolution and to study their underlying mechanisms.



GGNB Stark Figure


Homepage Department/Research Group
https://www.mpinat.mpg.de/stark

Selected Recent Publications


  • Zhang Z, Kumar V, Dybkov O, Will CL, Zhong J, Ludwig SEJ, Urlaub H, Kastner B, Stark H, Luhrmann R (2024b) Structural insights into the cross-exon to cross-intron spliceosome switch. Nature

  • Singh K, Bunzel G, Graf B, Yip KM, Neumann-Schaal M, Stark H, Chari A (2023) Reconstruction of a fatty acid synthesis cycle from acyl carrier protein and cofactor structural snapshots. Cell 186: 5054-5067 e16

  • Zhang Z, Rigo N, Dybkov O, Fourmann JB, Will CL, Kumar V, Urlaub H, Stark H, Lührmann R (2021) Structural insights into how Prp5 proofreads the pre-mRNA branch site. Nature 596, 296-300

  • Yip KM, Fischer N, Paknia E, Chari A, Stark H (2020) Atomic-resolution protein structure determination by cryo-EM. Nature 587, 157-161

  • Singh K, Graf B, Linden A, Sautner V, Urlaub H, Tittmann K, Stark H , Chari A (2020). Discovery of a regulatory subunit of the yeast fatty acid synthase. Cell 180, 1130-1143 e1120

  • Haselbach D, Komarov I, Agafonov DE, Hartmuth K, Graf B, Dybkov O, Urlaub H, Kastner B, Luhrmann R, Stark H (2018) Structure and Conformational Dynamics of the Human Spliceosomal B(act) Complex. Cell 172, 454-464 e411

  • Bertram K, Agafonov DE, Dybkov O, Haselbach D, Leelaram MN, Will CL, Urlaub H, Kastner B, Lührmann R, Stark H (2017) Cryo-EM structure of a pre-catalytic human spliceosome primed for activation. Cell, 2017;170:701-13 e11

  • Bertram K, Agafonov DE, Liu WT, Dybkov O, Will CL, Hartmuth K, Urlaub H, Kastner B, Stark H, Luhrmann R (2017) Cryo-EM structure of a human spliceosome activated for step 2 of splicing. Nature 542, 318-323

  • Agafonov DE, Kastner B, Dybkov O, Hofele RV, Liu WT, Urlaub H, Luhrmann R, Stark H (2016) Molecular architecture of the human U4/U6.U5 tri-snRNP. Science 351, 1416-1420

  • Fischer N, Neumann P, Bock LV, Maracci C, Wang Z, Paleskava A, Konevega AL, Schroder GF, Grubmüller H, Ficner R, Rodnina M, Stark H (2016) The pathway to GTPase activation of elongation factor SelB on the ribosome. Nature 540, 80-85