Compound Profiling und Screening

The World Health Organization (WHO) considers the spread of microorganisms which are resistant to the most common antibiotics an increasing threat to the well-being of the world population. Not only is the number of patients increasing whose infectious disease can no longer be treated, but also in some circumstances patients with other severe diseases will not be treated if the therapy is accompanied with suppression of the immune system and thus, an increased risk of infection. Thus, new active agents for the treatment of infectious diseases are urgently needed, as well as the responsible use of existing antibiotics. Prerequisites for the discovery of new drugs are relevant biological screening assays together with compound libraries of broad chemical diversity. We perform primary screens, based either on own protocols or on protocols developed by cooperation partners and transferred to our infrastructure. In cooperation with partners we also perform secondary assays to optimize first primary hits.

Leader

Team

Prof Dr Ursula Bilitewski

Head of the Research Group Compound Profiling und Screening

Curriculum Vitae

Education and Employments

* 1977 – 1983   

Chemistry; University of Münster

* Oct. 1983       

Diploma: Dipl.-Chem.

* 1983 – 1987   

Ph.D. thesis at the Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Münster

* 1987 - 1988   

Postdoctoral fellow, Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Münster

* Feb. 1987  

Doctorate

* since 1988      

Project manager at the GBF mbH, Braunschweig

* 1994               

Habilitation in Biochemistry at the Technical University of Braunschweig

* since 1994      

Professor for Biochemistry at the Technical University of Braunschweig

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Accomplishments

* since 2000       

Chair of the Working group “Biochemical Methods” of the Waterchemical Society of the GDCh

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Research Interests and Achievements

Ursula Bilitewski has many years of experience in bioanalytical methods. She has started with the development of enzyme electrodes based on screen-printing technology, which is nowadays one of the most frequently used technologies for the industrial production of glucose test strips. This work was complemented by the development of optical affinity sensors using antibodies, receptors and oligonucleotides as binding molecules. Besides the development of suitable surface and immobilisation chemistries, demonstrators and miniaturised systems for the application to food, environmental and bioprocess analysis she became interested in the biological sensing mechanisms and corresponding signal transduction mechanisms.

This led to projects on the elucidation of molecular mechanisms of potential therapeutic or toxic agents, which is now the major focus of her research. Test organisms, such as bacteria, fungi or human or animal cell lines, are treated with the compounds under investigation and the response of the organism is analysed on a molecular level, considering metabolites, proteins and nucleic acids using specific enzyme or immunoassays, gel electrophoresis and DNA-chips. These investigations will be supported by analysis of the dynamics of the intracellular networks using methods of systems biology and lead not only to a molecular understanding of toxic or therapeutic mechanisms but also to new screening assays, as new markers for the activity of compounds will be identified.      

Since her habilitation Prof. Bilitewski was main supervisor of more than 20 PhD students. She is principal author of approx. 70 original publications and 40 review articles.

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