Prof. Dr. Achilleas Frangakis

Director of the Buchmann Institute for Molecular Life Sciences

Spokesperson of the iMOL Graduate School

Professor for Electron Microscopy and Tomography, Buchmann Institute for Molecular Life Sciences (BMLS) and Institute for Biophysics, Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main

Previous Research Positions

Group leader, cryo-electron tomography, EMBL, Heidelberg

Beckmann senior research fellow, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, California

Education

PhD: Physics, Technical University Munich (TUM), Munich

MSc: Electrical engineering and computer science, Technical University Munich (TUM), Munich

Honors and Awards

European Research Council (ERC) Proof of Concept Grant

European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant

My favorite papers:

1. Cryo-electron tomography analyses of terminal organelle mutants suggest the motility mechanism of Mycoplasma genitalium. Seybert A, Gonzalez-Gonzalez L, Scheffer MP, Lluch-Senar M, Mariscal AM,Querol E, Matthaeus F, Piñol J, Frangakis AS. Mol Microbiol 2018, 319-329. doi: 10.1111/mmi.13938.

2. Structural characterization of the NAP; the major adhesion complex of the human pathogen Mycoplasma genitalium. Scheffer MP, Gonzalez-Gonzalez L, Seybert A, Ratera M, Kunz M, Valpuesta JM, Fita I, Querol E, Piñol J, Martín-Benito J, Frangakis AS. Mol Microbiol 2017, 105, 869-879.

3. Structure of RNA polymerase I transcribing ribosomal DNA genes. Neyer S, Kunz M, Geiss C, Hantsche M; Hodirnau VV, Seybert A, Engel C, Scheffer MP, Cramer P, Frangakis AS. Nature 2016, 540, 607–610.

4. Three-dimensional CTF correction improves the resolution of electron tomograms. Kunz M, Frangakis AS. J Structural Biology 2016, 197,114-122.

5. Quantitative analysis of cytoskeletal reorganization during epithelial tissue sealing by large-volume electron tomography. Eltsov M, Dubé N, Yu Z, Pasakarnis L, Haselmann-Weiss U, Brunner D, Frangakis AS. Nature Cell Biology 2015, 17, 605-614.

6. Super-sampling SART with ordered subsets. Kunz M, Frangakis AS. J Structural Biology 2014, 188, 107-115.

7. M-free: scoring the reference bias in sub-tomogram averaging and template matching. Yu Z, Frangakis AS. J Structural Biology 2014, 187,10-19.

8. Correlative Light- and Electron Microscopy with chemical tags. Perkovic M, Kunz M, Endesfelder U, Bunse S, Wigge C, Yu Z, Hodirnau VV, SchefferMP, Seybert A, Malkusch S, Schuman EM, Heilemann M, Frangakis AS. J Structural Biology 2014, 186, 205–213.

9. Heritable yeast prions have a highly organized three-dimensional architecture with interfiber structures. Saibil HR, Seybert A, Habermann A, Winkler J, Eltsov M, Perkovic M, Castaño-Diez D, Scheffer MP, Haselmann U, Chlanda P, Lindquist S, Tyedmers J, Frangakis AS. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2012, 109, 14906-14911.

10. Evidence for short-range helical order in the 30-nm chromatin fibers of erythrocyte nuclei. Scheffer MP, Eltsov M, Frangakis AS. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2011, 108, 16992-16997.

11. The molecular architecture of cadherins in native epidermal desmosomes. Al-Amoudi A, Díez DC, Betts MJ, Frangakis AS. Nature 2007, 450, 832-837.