Name:
Wöhrl, Birgitta, Prof. Dr.
Address:
Universität Bayreuth; Dept. of Biopolymers
Universitätsstraße 30, 95447 Bayreuth
Phone: +49 921 55-3542
 
Email: birgitta.woehrl@uni-bayreuth.de

Current Position
from 4/2018 Temporary Head, Dept. of Biopolymers, U Bayreuth
from 2005 Associate Professor, Dept. of Biopolymers, U Bayreuth

Education
1978 – 1984 Study of Biology, U Regensburg and University College Cardiff, UK
1984 Diploma: Biology, U Regensburg
Diploma Thesis: Prof. Dr. R. Schmitt, Dept. of Genetics, Regensburg

Scientific Grades
2003 Habilitation: Biophysical Chemistry, U Bayreuth
1998 Habilitation: Genetics, U Osnabrück
Thesis: Prof. Dr. R.S. Goody, Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Physiology, Dortmund
1988 Doctoral Degree: Biology, U Osnabrück
Thesis: Prof. Dr. J.W. Lengeler, Dept. of Genetics, U Osnabrück

Career
from 2005 Associate Professor, Dept. of Biopolymers, U Bayreuth
2002 - 2005 Research Associate, Dept. of Biopolymers, U Bayreuth
1999 Visiting Scientist, Laboratory Prof. Dr. D. Klatzmann,
Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière, Paris
1994 - 2002 Group Leader, Dept. of Physical Biochemistry,
Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund
1992 -1997 Fellowship from the German AIDS-program
1992 -1994 Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Dr. S. Le Grice, Case Western Reserve University
School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
1988 – 1991 Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Dr. K. Mölling,
Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, Germany

Additional Information
from 2006 Deputy Women's Representative, U Bayreuth
2007 – 2009 Deputy Women's Representative, Faculty Biology/Chemistry/Geological Sciences
2005 Offer of the position of Full Professor for Molecular Biology, Technical University of Applied Sciences, Wildau (rejected)
2003 - 2007 Women's Representative, Faculty Biology/Chemistry/Geological Sciences

10 Important Publications
(Members of the Dept. of Biopolymers: boldface)
[1]     Corona A, Schneider A, Schweimer K, Rösch P, Wöhrl BM, Tramontano E. Inhibition of foamy virus reverse transcriptase by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 RNase H inhibitors. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2014; 58:4086-93.
[2]     Leo B, Schweimer K, Rösch P, Wöhrl BM. The solution structure of the prototype foamy virus RNase H domain indicates an important role of the basic loop in substrate binding. Retrovirology 2012; 9:73-. [3]
[3]     Hartl MJ, Bodem J, Jochheim F, Rethwilm A, Rösch P, Wöhrl BM. Regulation of foamy virus protease activity by viral RNA - a novel and unique mechanism among retroviruses. J. Virol. 2011; 85:4462-9.
[4]     Wenzel S, Martins BM, Rösch P, Wöhrl BM. Crystal structure of the human transcription elongation factor DSIF hSpt4 subunit in complex with the hSpt5 dimerization interface. Biochem J. 2010; 425:373-80.
[5]     Hartl MJ, Schweimer K, Reger MH, Schwarzinger S, Bodem J, Rösch P, Wöhrl BM. Formation of transient dimers by a retroviral protease. Biochem J. 2010; 427:197-203.
[6]     Hartl MJ, Kretzschmar B, Frohn A, Nowrouzi A, Rethwilm A, Wöhrl BM. AZT resistance of simian foamy virus reserve transcriptase is based on the excision of AZTMP in the presence of ATP. Nucl Acids Res. 2008; 36:1009-16.
[7]     Rao Jampani N, Neumann L, Wenzel S, Schweimer K, Rösch P, Wöhrl BM. Structural studies on the RNA recognition motif of NELF E, a cellular negative transcription elongation factor involved in the regulation of HIV transcription. Biochem J. 2006; 400:449-59.
[8]     Wöhrl BM, Georgiadis M, Telesnitsky A, Hendrickson W, Le Grice SFJ. Footprinting analysis of replicating murine leukemia virus reverse transcriptase and a polypeptide lacking the C-terminal RNase H domain. Science 1995; 267: 96-99.
[9]     Wöhrl BM, Krebs R, Goody RS, Restle T. Refined model for primer/template binding by HIV-1 reverse transcriptase: pre-steady state kinetic analyses of primer/template binding and nucleotide incorporation events distinguish between different binding modes depending on the nature of the nucleic acid substrate. J.Mol.Biol. 1999; 292: 333-344.
[10]     Wöhrl, BMMoelling K. Interaction of HIV-1 ribonuclease H with polypurine tract containing RNA-DNA hybrids. Biochemistry 1990; 29: 10141-10147.
See all publications.

Research Interests

We work on the characterization of enzymes and regulatory factors in retroviruses, especially foamy viruses, and the analysis of reverse transcriptase and RNase H inhibitors in foamy viruses and human immunodeficiency virus HIV-1.

Another project deals with transcription in procaryotes and in eukaryotes. In eukaryotes we are interested in the structure and function of the cellular transcription factors DSIF and NELF and their involvement in the transcriptional regulation of integrated HIV-1.

Since our department focusses on structural analyses of proteins by NMR, we also develop and optimize gene expression and protein purification strategies of recombinant proteins to make them suitable for solution structure determination.