Manfred Focke Manfred Focke

Dr. Manfred Focke

  • Akademischer Oberrat
  • Fax: +49 721 608-44874

  • Fritz-Haber-Weg 4
    76131 Karlsruhe

Dr. Manfred Focke

Personal Data:

Year of Birth: 1960
Military service: 1978-1979

 

Education and Qualification:

1979-1985 study of biology at the University of Karlsruhe
1985-1990 Ph.D. thesis in the group of Prof. H.K. Lichtenthaler, University of Karlsruhe

 

Employment:

Botanical Institute, Plant Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of Karlsruhe
since 1992 Academic Council (“ Akademischer Rat”)
since 1998 Academic Senior Council (“Akademischer Oberrat)

 

Duties and responsibilities:

  • Supervision of Ph.D. students and “Diplomanden”,
  • organisation of practical courses,
  • administration matters,
  • radiation safety commissioner,
  • teaching of laboratory assistents (“Biologie-Laboranten-Auszubildene”),
  • contact person of the German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Gesellschaft für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie, GBM) at the University of Karlsruhe

 

Memberships:

  • American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB)
  • Deutsche Botanische Gesellschaft (German Botanical Society)
  • Federation of the European Societies of Plant Biology (FESPB)
  • Gesellschaft für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie (German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
  • Deutsche Gesellschaft für DNA-Reparaturforschung (DGDR)

 

Research Visit:

July-October 1997 and 1998 at Prof. J.B. Ohlrogge’s Lab, Michigan State University, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, East Lansing, USA

 

Areas of interest

  • Characterization of DNA-repair enzymes,
  • nanotechnology,
  • plant metabolism
  • Expression of DNA-repair enzymes (helicases, nucleases, topoisomerases) from plant origin in heterologous hosts (bacteria, insect cells),
  • Description of the enzymatic properties of DNA-repair enzymes,
  • Description of the quaternary structure of DNA-repair enzymes (protein complexes),
  • Assembly of DNA-nanostructures

 

Recent publications

Geuting V., Kobbe D., Hartung F., Dürr J., Focke M. and Puchta H. (2009) Two distinct MUS81-EME1 complexes from Arabidopsis thaliana process Holliday junctions. Plant Physiol. 150: 1062-1071

Kobbe D., Blanck S., Demand K., Focke M. and Puchta H. (2008) AtRECQ2, a RecQ-helicase homologue from Arabidopsis thaliana, is able to disrupt different recombinogenic DNA-structures in vitro. Plant J. 55, 397-405

Focke, M., Gieringer, E., Schwan, S., Jänsch, L., Binder, S., Braun, H.-P., Fatty acid biosynthesis in mitochondria of grasses: malonyl-CoA is generated by a mitochondrial-localized acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase. Plant Physiol. 133, 875-884 (2003)

Bao, X., Focke, M., Pollard, M., Ohlrogge, J., Understanding in vivo carbon precursor supply for fatty acid synthesis in leaf tissue. Plant J. 22(1), 39-50 (2000)