Structural Biology of Metabolite and Protein Transport

Gatsogiannis Lab

60% of all currently approved drugs target the transport of small molecules or proteins across biological membranes. Our research group investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying fundamental transport processes and explores how the architecture of complex macromolecular machines enables highly selective transport.

Our primary tool is cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), including single-particle analysis and cryo-electron tomography. By combining cryo-EM with biochemical, biophysical, molecular biological, and bioinformatics approaches, we gain detailed insights into the structure and dynamics of biological transport systems.

Our Research Focus Areas

Metabolite Transport

  • Ion channels, including pore-forming toxins that mimic ion channels
  • SLC transporters (solute carrier transporters)

Protein Transport

  • AAA ATPases that extract proteins from biological membranes
  • The peroxisomal import machinery responsible for transporting folded enzymes into the organelle lumen

In the long term, we aim to harness the mechanisms of selective transport for therapeutic applications in humans.

Learn more about our research here.

Our Research Group

We are based at the Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN). Christos Gatsogiannis serves as the scientific director of the University of Münster’s Cryo-EM infrastructure (cryoEM SoN) and is the spokesperson for the CheMTrap consortium – Chemical Strategies to Target Membrane Transport Proteins. The consortium aims to establish a new Collaborative Research Centre (CRC, Sonderforschungsbereich, SFB) at the University of Münster.

Research at the University of Münster

Explore our research in the latest profile video from the University of Münster
©Michael Kuhlmann

05/2026 SFB 1348 international symposium "Mechanochemical signals at cellular interfaces"

Our PhD student Karthik presented our latest research findings on latrotoxin action at the synapse at the international SFB1348 meeting 'Mechanochemical Signals at Cellular Interfaces' in Münster

03/2026 WDR Lokalzeit: The Search for New Contraceptives: Is a Male Birth Control Pill on the Horizon?

In March 2026, the current research at the SoN was literally in the spotlight. A team from WDR visited to learn firsthand about the latest approaches to researching sperm motility. Thanks to cryo-electron microscopy, cells can be visualized down to their atomic structure. This approach is used by the research group at the SoN, led by Christos Gatsogiannis, in cooperation with Timo Strünker from the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Andrology, among other things, to advance the search for new contraceptives. The report on the local news program "Lokalzeit Münsterland," is now also available online.

The Contraception.MS team in Münster (from left to right): Prof. Oliver Koch (Institute of Pharmaceutical and Medical Chemistry), Prof. Frank Tüttelmann (Center for Medical Genetics), Prof. Sabine Kliesch (CeRA), Prof. Guiscard Seebohm (Institute for the Genetics of Heart Diseases), Prof. Timo Strünker, Dr. Vera Minneker, Dr. Christoph Brenker (all three: CeRA), and Prof. Christos Gatsogiannis (Center for Soft Nanosciences) (Photo: Uni MS/E. Wibberg)

02/2026 Millions in funding for research into new contraceptive methods

Ion channels in sperm as potential game changers

For 66 years now, only women have been taking contraceptives – the "pill." There is no equivalent for men. Now, the research consortium Contraception.MS aims to investigate new approaches to non-hormonal contraceptive methods for both sexes. The Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) is providing three million euros for this purpose. With the funding commitment, the team of experts from Münster and Hamburg explains the focus of their work. Full report

09/24 Poster Award at the Murnau Conference: Congratulations to Dr. Björn-Udo Klink

Congratulations to Björn, who won a poster award at the “9th Murnau Conference on Structural Biology” for his work on the structure of alpha-latrotoxin.

 

 

 

09/24 Poster Award at the OEPM Conference: Congratulations to Dr. Jorgaq Pata

The 9th Open European Peroxisome Meeting (OEPM 2024) took place from September 26 to 28, 2024, in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Spain. Jorgaq Pata won the poster award for his work on peroxisomes using cryo-ET. 

05/24 Poster Award at the SFB1348 Conference: Congratulations to Karthik Subramaniam Kalyankumar

...who won a poster prize in the context of the ‘Molecular Mechanisms of Membrane Organisation’ of the SFB1348

04/23 Annual portraits of the University of Münster: Twelve months, twelve people

Prof Gatsogiannis introduces himself...
 

Christos Gatsogiannis moved from Karditsa, Greece, to Germany at the age of 18 to study biology in Mainz, where he became fascinated by molecular mechanisms and protein structures. During his studies, he discovered cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), which was then still in its early development and offered new possibilities for studying biological structures. After completing his PhD in 2009 with highest distinction, he continued his research in Germany, including at the Max Planck Institute in Dortmund, where he later became a group leader. Since 2020, he has been conducting research and teaching at the University of Münster, where his group uses state-of-the-art cryo-EM to study biomolecular structures at near-atomic resolution. Please find here the whole portrait.

09/2023, Maximilian receives the ‘Paper of the Month’!

Structure of the peroxisomal Pex1/Pex6 ATPase complex bound to a substrate

Click here for the article.

12/2023 Congratulations to Eda Samiloglu Tengirsek

...for receiving a scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation

Gatsogiannis Laboratory student Eda Samiloglu Tengirsek has been selected by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation to receive a prestigious doctoral scholarship in the field of structural biology. The Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes promotes "the university education of young people who can be expected to make an outstanding contribution to society as a whole due to their exceptional scientific or artistic talent and personal qualities".