michael sattler

Michael Sattler is professor for biomolecular NMR at the Technical University of Munich and head of the Molecular Targets and Therapeutics Center and the Institute of Structural Biology at Helmholtz Munich. Since 2007 he directs the Bavarian NMR Centre, and secured funding for its new research building in 2017 and installation of a 1.2 GHz spectrometer in 2022.

He performed doctoral research with Christian Griesinger at the University of Frankfurt, Germany, on developing triple-resonance NMR methods to study biological macromolecules. As postdoctoral research fellow with Steve Fesik at Abbott Labs, USA, he used NMR to study Bcl family proteins involved in the regulation of apoptosis. With his research group established 1997 at EMBL Heidelberg, and since 2007 in Munich, he applies and develops biomolecular NMR methods and integrative structural biology to study the structure and dynamics of protein and RNA complexes in eukaryotic gene regulation (alternative splicing, (long) non-coding RNAs, and in cellular signaling, involving the Hsp90 chaperone and peroxisome biogenesis. He pioneered integrative structural biology approaches, combining solution techniques (NMR, small angle X-ray and neutron scattering), highlighting the role of conformational dynamics for biomolecular function. His group employs structure-based drug discovery on innovative drug targets in disease-linked cellular pathways.

He is an elected member of EMBO and of the Leopoldina (German National Academy of Sciences), a recipient of the Erwin-Schrödinger Prize (Stifterverband Science Award) in 2020, and an ERC Synergy Award in 2023. Prof. Sattler has trained numerous postdocs/doctoral students, and alumni of this lab have established independent research groups in Europe, the US and Asia.