Congrats to Sina Wittmann, the winner of the ‘Win a Labbot’ contest at this year’s ‘Cellular Mechanisms Driven by Phase Separation’ Symposium at EMBL Heidelberg!
Out of 25 high-quality submissions, Sina’s proposal stood out as the Labbot seems to have been designed to fulfil the Lab’s needs, serving as a workhorse for current experiments, allowing the lab to generate more data in less time.
Sina Wittmann’s research focuses on the role of protein disorder in transcriptional regulation. They aim to better understand how transcriptional droplets form, which proteins they contain and how they are used to control transcriptional programs. As Sina’s research relies heavily on in vitro testing of different protein variants using phase separation assays, binding assays and buffer screens, the Labbot will give the lab an advantage as it will allow the lab to understand condensation of Transcription Factors in much greater detail and generate more impactful data.
A bit more about the Labbot:
The Labbot instrument contains the combined functionality of a fluorometer, a UV/vis spectrometer, a static light scattering instrument, a nanoliter titration system and a very precise temperature ramping and control function. It can also measure pH and conductivity. Its uniqueness lies in the simultaneous and coordinated utilisation of these functionalities on a single sample, enabling experiments that would be practically impossible to perform on separate instruments. Some of the most used applications include: Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation, Protein Interactions, Amyloid Aggregation, Thermal Stability, Metal Ion Binding and pH Stability.
The Labbott will be installed in Sina’s Lab at the IMB in September 2024. Should any members of the SFB1551 network be interested in testing their own samples, make sure you get in touch with Sina.
As a final note to other young researchers starting their own lab, Sina highlights that participating in this contest proved to be extremely rewarding. It was not only a great opportunity to pitch her research but to push its boundaries even further.
Well-deserved Sina!
Sina Wittmann is a group leader within the SFB1551 network developing Project R12: “DNA-Facilitated Nano-assembly of Biological Block Co-polymers”.
