University of Lethbridge

Biography

Professor
(2016 - Present) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Director
(2015 - Present) SynBridge (Synthetic Biology Maker Space), University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Director
(2012 - Present) Alberta RNA Research and Training Institute (ARRTI), University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Associate Professor
(2011 - 2016) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Assistant Professor
(2005 - 2011) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Visiting Scientist
(2001 - 2004) Department of Cellular Biochemistry, Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany

(2002 - 2003) Post-doctorate in Bioinformatics, Ruprecht-Karls-University, Heidelberg, Germany
(1995 - 2000) Dr. rer. nat. (Ph.D.) in Biochemistry, University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany
(1992 - 1995) Diplom (M.Sc. equivalent) in Chemistry, Heinrich-Hein University, Düsseldorf, Germany

Selected Publications

2017
Fernandes, D.D., Bamrah, J., Kailasam, S., Gomes, G.-N.W., Li, Yi, Wieden, H.-J., and Gradinaru, C.C.* (2017) Characterization of Fluorescein Arsenical Hairpin (FlAsH) as a Probe for Single-Molecule Fluorescence Spectroscopy. Sci. Rep. In Press (IF: 4.847)

Smith, D.D., Girodat, D., Wieden, H.-J.* and Selinger, L.B.* (2017) Streamlined purification of fluorescently labeled Escherichia coli phosphate-binding protein (PhoS) suitable for rapid-kinetics applications. Anal. Biochem. In Press. (IF: 2.219)

Dubé, S., Orr, D., Dempsey, B., and Wieden, H.-J.* (2017) A Synthetic Biology Approach to Integrative High School STEM Training. Nature Biotechnol. 35: 591-595. DOI: 10.1038/nbt.3896 (IF: 43.113)

Gzyl, K.E. and Wieden, H.-J.* (2017) Tetracycline Does Not Directly Inhibit the Function of Bacterial Elongation Factor Tu. PLoS ONE 12(5): e0178523. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178523. (IF: 3.057)

Heller, J.L.E., Kamalampeta, R., and Wieden, H.-J.* (2017) Taking a step back from back-translocation: An integrative view of LepA/EF4's cellular function. Mol. Cell. Biol. In Press. DOI: 10.1128/MCB.00653-16. (IF: 4.427)

Vigar, J., and Wieden, H.-J.* (2017) Engineering bacterial translation initiation - Do we have all the tools we need? Biochim. Biophys. Acta. In Press. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2017.03.008. (IF: 5.083)

Chao, Y., Li, L., Girodat, D., Förstner, K.U., Said, N., Corcoran, C., Śmiga, M., Papenfort, K., Reinhardt, R., Wieden, H.-J., Luisi, B., and Vogel, J.* (2017) A global in vivo cleavage map reveals a central role for RNase E in small RNA biogenesis. Mol. Cell 65(1): 39-51. DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2016.11.002 (IF: 13.958)

2016
De Laurentiis, E.I., Mercier, E., and Wieden, H.-J.* (2016) The C-terminal Helix of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Elongation Factor Ts Tunes EF-Tu Dynamics to Modulate Nucleotide Exchange. J. Biol. Chem. 291: 23136-48. DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M116.740381 (IF: 4.258)

De Laurentiis, E.I., Girodat, D., Mercier, E., and Wieden, H.-J.* (2016) Using Rapid Kinetics and Molecular Dynamics Simulations to Study Biomolecular Information Processing and Design. Biomath Communications 3: 1604167. DOI: 10.11145/bmc.2016.04.167 (IF: NA)

Beal, J.*, Haddock-Angelli, T., Gershater, M., de Mora, K., Lizarazo, M., Hollenhorst, J., Rettberg, R., iGEM Interlab Study Contributors. (2016) Reproducibility of Fluorescent Expression from Engineered Biological Constructs in E. coli. PLoS One 11(6): e0157255. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0150182 (IF: 3.23)

Thakor, N.*, Smith, M.D., Roberts, L., Patel, H., Wieden, H.-J., Cate, J.C.D., and Holcik, M.* (2016) Cellular mRNA recruits the ribosome via eIF3-PABP bridge to initiate internal translation. RNA Biol. DOI: 10.1080/15476286.2015.1137419 (IF: 4.97)

Coatham, M.L., Brandon, H.E., Fischer, J.J., Schümmer, T., and Wieden, H.-J.* (2016) The conserved GTPase HflX is a ribosome splitting factor that binds to the E-site of the bacterial ribosome. Nucleic Acids Res. 44(4): 1952-61. DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkv1524 (IF: 9.11)

2015
Brandon, H.E., Friedt, J.R., Glaister, G.D., Kharey, S.K., Smith, D.D., Stinson, Z.K., and Wieden, H.-J.* (2015) Introducing a class of standardized and interchangeable parts utilizing programmed ribosomal frameshifts for synthetic biology applications. Translation 3(2): e1112458. DOI: 10.1080/21690731.2015.1112458 (IF: NA)

Rosler, K.S., Mercier, E., and Wieden, H.-J.* (2015) Histidine 114 is essential for ATP hydrolysis in the universally conserved HAS-ATPase YchF. J. Biol. Chem. 290(30): 18650-61. DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M114.598227 (IF: 4.60)

Tillault, A.-S., Fourmann, J.B., Loegler, C., Wieden, H.-J., Kothe, U., and Charpentier, B.* (2015) Contribution of two conserved histidines to the dual activity of archaeal RNA guide dependent and -independent pseudouridine synthase Cbf5. RNA 21(7): 1233-9. DOI: 10.1261/rna.051425.115 (IF: 4.94)

De Laurentiis, E.I., and Wieden, H.-J.* (2015) Identification of two structural elements important for ribosome stimulated GTPase activity of Elongation Factor 4 (EF4/LepA). Sci. Rep. 5: 8573. DOI: 10.1038/srep08573 (IF: 5.58)

Mercier, E., Girodat, D., and Wieden, H.-J.* (2015) A conserved P-loop anchor limits the structural dynamics that mediate nucleotide dissociation in EF-Tu. Sci. Rep. 5: 7677. DOI: 10.1038/srep07677 (IF: 5.58)

2014
Boël, G., Smith, P.C., Ning, W., Englander, M.T., Chen, B., Hashem, Y., Testa, A.J., Fischer, J.J., Wieden, H.-J., Frank, J., Gonzalez, R.L. Jr., and Hunt, J.F.* (2014) The ABC-F protein EttA gates ribosome entry into the translation elongation cycle. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 21(2): 143-51. DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.2740 (IF: 12.71)

Friedt, J., Leavens, F.M., Mercier, E., Wieden, H.-J., and Kothe, U.* (2014) An arginine-aspartate network in the active site of bacterial TruB is critical for catalyzing pseudouridine formation. Nucleic Acids Res. 42(6): 3857-70. DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkt1331 (IF: 8.03)

2013
Chen, X.L., Serrano, D., Mayhue, M., Wieden, H.-J., Stankova, J., Boulay, G., Ilangumaran, S., and Ramanathan, S.* (2013) GTPase of the immune-associated nucleotide-binding protein 5 (GIMAP5) regulates calcium influx in T-lymphocytes by promoting mitochondrial calcium accumulation. Biochem. J. 449(2): 353-64. DOI: 10.1042/BJ20120516. (IF: 4.89)

2012
Becker, M., Gzyl, K., Altamirano, A.M., Vuong, A., Urban, K., and Wieden, H.-J.* (2012) The 70S ribosome modulates the ATPase activity of Escherichia coli YchF. RNA Biol. 9(10): 1288-1301. DOI: 10.4161/rna.22131 (IF: 4.84)

Fischer, J.J., Coatham, M.L., Eagle Bear, S., Brandon, H.E., De Laurentiis, E.I., Shields, M.J., Wieden, H. J.* (2012) The ribosome modulates the structural dynamics of the conserved GTPase HflX and triggers tight nucleotide binding. Biochimie 94(8): 1647-59. DOI: 10.1016/j.biochi.2012.04.016 (IF: 3.14)

Gruninger, R.J., Dobing, S., Smith, A.D., Bruder, LM, Selinger, L.B., Wieden, H.-J., and Mosimann, S.C.* (2012) Substrate binding in protein tyrosine phosphatase-like inositol polyphosphatases. J. Biol. Chem. 287: 9722-30. DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M111.309872 (IF: 4.77)

In The Media

Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services and University of Lethbridge: First responders for identifying and mitigating biological risks in EMS, Canadian Paramedicine, April/May 2017
https://canadianparamedicine.ca/lethbridge-fire-and-emergency-services-and-university-of-lethbridge-first-responders-for-identifying-and-mitigating-biological-risks-in-ems/

'I got out just in time': American, British scientists flee funding instability for Canada, CBC News Calgary, March 27, 2017
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/brain-gain-canada-lethbridge-1.4038793

iGEM: Secret to iGEM Success at ULeth, Innovation Anthology, January 12, 2017
http://www.innovationanthology.com/programs.php?id=873

U of L iGEM team earns another gold, Lethbridge Herald, November 21, 2016

U of L iGEM team golden, now focused on furthering project with Lethbridge Fire and EMS, UNews, November 18, 2016
https://www.uleth.ca/unews/article/u-l-igem-team-golden-now-focussed-furthering-project-lethbridge-fire-and-ems

iGEM team battling germ warfare in EMS vehicles, Lethbridge Herald, October 17, 2016

U of L iGEM team gears up for Boston with win at aGEM competition, UNews, October 17, 2016
https://www.uleth.ca/unews/article/u-l-igem-team-gears-boston-win-agem-competition

Young researchers look to stem flow of blood, Lethbridge Herald, May 15, 2016

Summer time is research time for six local high school students, UNews, August 17, 2016
https://www.uleth.ca/unews/article/summer-time-research-time-six-local-high-school-students

Research Interests

Structural and Functional dynamics of protein biosynthesis; the study of protein biosynthesis using a purified reconstituted E. coli translation system; kinetics and structural dynamics of elongation factors; functional roles of ribosomal proteins, Synthetic Biology and Bioengineering.

Current Research and Creative Activity

Title	Location	Grant Information	Principal Investigator	Co Researchers
Biomolecular Interactions in Health and Environment	Oxfordshire, UK	Diamond Light Source (Synchrotron), $379,058, 2017.	Trushar Patel, University of Lethbridge	H.J. Wieden, University of Lethbridge; David Scott, University of Nottingham; Janusz Bujnicki, International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Warsaw; Joerg Stetefeld, University of Manitoba; Michael Overduin, University of Alberta; Sean McKenna, University of Manitoba; Ute Kothe, University of Lethbridge
Development of EMS pathogen detection tools using next generation sequencing	Lethbridge, Canada	WorkSafeBC - Innovation at Work, $50,000, 2017-2018.	H.J. Wieden, University of Lethbridge	Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services
Investigating the Design Principles of Protein and Nucleic Acid Molecules	Lethbridge, Canada	Compute Canada Resource Allocation, $21,619, 2017-2018.	H.J. Wieden, University of Lethbridge
Mechanisms and Structural Dynamics of Translation	Lethbridge, Canada	National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), $50,000 per annum, 2017-2018.	H.J. Wieden, University of Lethbridge
Strategic Chair in RNA Bioengineering	Lethbridge, Canada	Alberta Innovates Technology Futures (AITF), $399,000 per annum, 2013-2018.	H.J. Wieden, University of Lethbridge

Curriculum Vitae

My CV

Internet Links

The Wieden Team Pages
The Alberta RNA Research and Training Institute