Hermann Clemens Altmeppen

Hermann Clemens Altmeppen, PhD

Head of Research Group

Center for Diagnostics

Institute of Neuropathology

University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)

Hamburg, Germany

About the Speaker:

2002-2008: Studies of Human Biology/Biomedical Science at Philipps University Marburg, Germany (Diploma with main subjects"infection" and "cell biology"; Diploma thesis on the proteolytic activation of a viral surface protein at the Institute of Virology, Marburg) with research internships at Med. Univ. Vienna and UC San Francisco.

2009-2013: Dissertation project on proteolytic processing, prion protein biology and neurodegeneration at the Institute of Neuropathology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.

2013-2016: PostDoc; and subsequently Research Group Leader at aforementioned institution.

Enzymatic cleavage of certain proteins is of utmost importance for their biological functions and regulation, but also plays a critical role in several (neurodegenerative) diseases.   Our current research focusses on how proteolytic processing events on key proteins impact on neurodegenerative conditions such as rare and transmissible prion diseases (e.g. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) or Alzheimer`s disease, the most frequent cause of dementia.   We also study their diagnostic/therapeutic potential.

Selected Recent Publications:

1. Matamoros-Angles A, Karadjuzovic E, Mohammadi B, Song F, Brenna S, Meister SC, Siebels B, Voß H, Seuring C, Ferrer I, Schlüter H, Kneussel M, Altmeppen HC, Schweizer M, Puig B, Shafiq M, Glatzel M (2024) Efficient enzyme-free isolation of brain-derived extracellular vesicles. J Extracell Vesicles 13:e70011.

2. Karner D, Kvestak D, Kucan Brlic P, Cokaric Brdovcak M, Lisnic B, Brizic I, Juranic Lisnic V, Golemac M, Tomac J, Krmpotic A, Karkeni E, Libri V, Mella S, Legname G, Altmeppen HC, Hasan M, Jonjic S, Lenac Rovis T (2024) Prion protein alters viral control and enhances pathology after perinatal cytomegalovirus infection. Nat Commun 15:7754.

3. Linsenmeier L, Mohammadi B, Shafiq M, Frontzek K, Bär J, Shrivastava AN, Damme M, Song F, Schwarz A, Da Vela S, Massignan T, Jung S, Correia A, Schmitz M, Puig B, Hornemann S, Zerr I, Tatzelt J, Biasini E, Saftig P et al. (2021) Ligands binding to the prion protein induce its proteolytic release with therapeutic potential in neurodegenerative proteinopathies. Sci Adv 7:eabj1826.

4. Shafiq M, Zafar S, Younas N, Noor A, Puig B, Altmeppen HC, Schmitz M, Matschke J, Ferrer I, Glatzel M, Zerr I (2021) Prion protein oligomers cause neuronal cytoskeletal damage in rapidly progressive Alzheimer's disease. Mol Neurodegener 16:11.

5. Wenzel J, Lampe J, Müller-Fielitz H, Schuster R, Zille M, Müller K, Krohn M, Körbelin J, Zhang L, Özorhan Ü, Neve V, Wagner JUG, Bojkova D, Shumliakivska M, Jiang Y, Fähnrich A, Ott F, Sencio V, Robil C, Pfefferle S et al. (2021) The SARS-CoV-2 main protease Mpro causes microvascular brain pathology by cleaving NEMO in brain endothelial cells. Nat Neurosci 24:1522-1533.