Annette Beck-Sickinger

Annette Gabriele Beck-Sickinger (born 28 October 1960[1]) is a German chemist and biologist. She has been a full professor of Biochemistry and Bioorganic Chemistry at the University of Leipzig since 1999. Her major research fields are structure-activity-relationships of peptide hormones and G protein coupled receptors and protein modification to study function and interaction. A tight connection of chemical methods, bioorganic synthesis and molecular biology tools, including cloning, receptor mutagenesis, protein expression and cell biochemistry is applied. Whereas in the first field, her interests go towards medicinal chemistry, identification of novel targets and novel therapeutic concepts e. g. in the field of cancer and obesity, the second field is related to biomaterials, novel approaches to modify proteins and concepts for improved enzyme catalysis.

Annette Gabriele Beck-Sickinger
Born
Annette Gabriele Beck-Sickinger

(1960-10-28) 28 October 1960
NationalityGerman
Alma materUniversity of Tübingen
Known forGPCR research, peptide hormones, peptide and protein modification
AwardsLeonidas Zervas Award of the European Peptide Society

Gold Medal of the Max-Bergmann-Kreis Leipzig Science Award Saxonian Order of Merit

Albrecht-Kossel-Price of the German Chemical Society
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Leipzig
Websitewww.saw-leipzig.de/de/mitglieder/becka


biochemie.biphaps.uni-leipzig.de/en/groups/biochemistry-and-bioorganic-chemistry/

Career

Annette G. Beck-Sickinger studied chemistry (diploma in 1986) and biology (diploma in 1990) at the University of Tübingen (Germany) and received her Ph. D. under the supervision of Günther Jung (Organic Chemistry, University of Tübingen). She was working as research fellow with R. A. Houghten (Scripps Clinic & Research Foundation, La Jolla, USA 1988) and T. W. Schwartz (Rigshospitalet Kopenhagen, Denmark 1992) and performed a post-doctorate with E. Carafoli (Laboratory of Biochemistry, ETH Zürich, 1990-1991). She was appointed as assistant professor of Pharmaceutical Biochemistry at ETH Zürich (1997-1999). Since October 1999, she is full professor of Biochemistry and Bioorganic Chemistry at the University of Leipzig. In 2009 she spent a sabbatical at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN) as visiting professor.

Annette Beck-Sickinger was a member of the Board of the German Chemical Society (Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, 2004-2012; Vice-President 2006-2008) and of the DFG panel „Biochemistry“ (2004-2012). Since 2017 she is member of the Board of the German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (gbm) and Vice-President. She was a member of the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat) from 2012-2018, and has been awarded with many prices including the Leonidas Zervas Award of the European Peptide Society, the gold medal of the Max-Bergmann-Kreis, the Leipzig Science Award (2016) and the Albrecht Kossel Price of the German Chemical Society (2018). She was honoured with the membership of the Saxonian Academy of Science in 2009 and in 2012, she became an elected member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. In 2017, she was awarded with the Saxonian Order of Merit.

She is a member of the German Chemical Society, the Saxonian Academy of Sciences[2] and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.[3] She is known for her work on peptide signaling; she has coauthored reference works on combinatorial chemistry as applied to peptides[4] and has participated in International Union of Pharmacology projects on standardization of nomenclature for G protein-coupled receptor peptide ligands.[5]

Controversy
Main article: Leipzig University internship controversy

In March 2015, Beck-Sickinger was at the center of a controversy related to comments made during correspondence with an internship applicant in which she stated she would not accept any male students from India.[6][7][8][9]

The University declined to publish e-mails between Prof. Dr. Annette Beck-Sickinger and the student from India. However, the rector of the university, Prof. Dr. Beate Schücking as well as the students council of the university had the opportunity to review all relevant e-mails. Two independent statements have been published claiming that the mail published by the Indian student was faked as it only contained parts of the email conversation and that the student was declined for formal reasons.[10][11]

Germany's ambassador to India wrote a letter condemning Beck-Sickinger and, stating: “Your oversimplifying and discriminating generalisation is an offence to women and men ardently committed to furthering women's empowerment in India; and is an offence to millions of law-abiding, tolerant, open-minded and hard-working Indians. Let's be clear: India is not a country of rapists,” he wrote.[12][13][14] “I would encourage you to learn more about the diverse, dynamic and fascinating country and the many welcoming and open-minded people of India so that you could correct a simplistic image, which – in my opinion – is particularly unsuitable for a professor and teacher.”[15][16][17][18][19]

Selected bibliography

Books
  • Beck-Sickinger, Annette; Weber, Peter J. A. (1999). Kombinatorische Methoden in Chemie und Biologie. Spektrum Verlag. ISBN 3827401577.
  • Beck-Sickinger, Annette; Weber, Peter (2002). Combinatorial strategies in biology and chemistry. Chichester, England New York: Wiley. ISBN 9780471497271.
  • Beck-Sickinger, Annette; Hahn, Ulrich (2002). Lehrbuch der Biochemie (Herausgabe der deutschen Übersetzung von Voet, Voet, Pratt; Principles in Biochemistry). Wiley. ISBN 352730519X.
  • Beck-Sickinger, Annette; Bräse, Stefan (2007). Combinatorial chemistry on solid supports. Berlin New York: Springer. ISBN 9783540725091.
  • Beck-Sickinger, Annette; Petzold, Matthias (2009). Paradigma Evolution. Stuttgart: Peter Lang Verlag. ISBN 978-3631560822.

Journal articles
  • Yang Z, Han S, Keller M, Kaiser A, Bender BJ, Bosse M, Burkert K, Kögler LM, Wifling D, Bernhardt G, Plank N, Littmann T, Schmidt P, Yi C, Li B, Ye S, Zhang, R, Xu B, Larhammar D, Stevens RC, Huster D, Meiler J, Zhao Q, Beck-Sickinger AG*, Buschauer A, Wu B*. Structural basis of ligand binding modes at the neuropeptide Y Y(1) receptor. Nature. 2018 Apr;556(7702):520-524.
  • Wanka L, Babilon S, Kaiser A, Mörl K, Beck-Sickinger AG. Different mode of arrestin-3 binding at the human Y(1) and Y(2) receptor. Cell Signal. 2018 Oct;50:58-71.
  • Kaiser A, Hempel C, Wanka L, Schubert M, Hamm HE, Beck-Sickinger AG. G Protein Preassembly Rescues Efficacy of W(6.48) Toggle Mutations in Neuropeptide Y(2) Receptor. Mol Pharmacol. 2018 Apr;93(4):387-401.
  • Lotze J, Wolf P, Reinhardt U, Seitz O, Mörl K, Beck-Sickinger AG. Time-Resolved Tracking of Separately Internalized Neuropeptide Y(2) Receptors by Two-Color Pulse-Chase. ACS Chem Biol. 2018 Mar 16;13(3):618-627.
  • Schubert M, Stichel J, Du Y, Tough IR, Sliwoski G, Meiler J, Cox HM, Weaver CD, Beck-Sickinger AG. Identification and Characterization of the First Selective Y(4) Receptor Positive Allosteric Modulator. J Med Chem. 2017 Sep 14;60(17):7605-7612.
  • Böhme D, Krieghoff J, Beck-Sickinger AG. Double Methotrexate-Modified Neuropeptide Y Analogues Express Increased Toxicity and Overcome Drug Resistance in Breast Cancer Cells. J Med Chem. 2016 Apr 14;59(7):3409-17.
  • Zernia S, Ott F, Bellmann-Sickert K, Frank R, Klenner M, Jahnke HG, Prager A, Abel B, Robitzki A, Beck-Sickinger AG. Peptide-Mediated Specific Immobilization of Catalytically Active Cytochrome P450 BM3 Variant. Bioconjug Chem. 2016 Apr 20;27(4):1090-7.
  • Pagel M, Hassert R, John T, Braun K, Wießler M, Abel B, Beck-Sickinger AG. Multifunctional Coating Improves Cell Adhesion on Titanium by using Cooperatively Acting Peptides. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2016 Apr 4;55(15):4826-30.
  • Ahrens VM, Kostelnik KB, Rennert R, Böhme D, Kalkhof S, Kosel D, Weber L, von Bergen M, Beck-Sickinger AG. A cleavable cytolysin-neuropeptide Y bioconjugate enables specific drug delivery and demonstrates intracellular mode of action. J Control Release. 2015 Jul 10;209:170-8.
  • Kaiser A, Müller P, Zellmann T, Scheidt HA, Thomas L, Bosse M, Meier R, Meiler J, Huster D, Beck-Sickinger AG, Schmidt P. Unwinding of the C-Terminal Residues of Neuropeptide Y is critical for Y₂ Receptor Binding and Activation. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2015 Jun 15;54(25):7446-9.
  • Michel, MC; Beck-Sickinger, A; Cox, H; Doods, HN; Herzog, H; Larhammar, D; Quirion, R; Schwartz, T; Westfall, T (March 1998). "XVI. International Union of Pharmacology recommendations for the nomenclature of neuropeptide Y, peptide YY, and pancreatic polypeptide receptors". Pharmacological Reviews. American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. 50 (1): 143–50. PMID 9549761.

References
  1. "Profile: Annette G. Beck-Sickinger, Prof. Dr. rer. nat. habil". Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig.
  2. "Prof. Dr. Annette Beck-Sickinger". University of Leipzig. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  3. "List of members: Prof. Dr. Annette G. Beck-Sickinger". Leopoldina Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften.
  4. Beck-Sickinger, Annette; Soderman, Peter Weber (2002). Combinatorial strategies in biology and chemistry. Translated by Michael Weir Allan. Chichester: John Wiley. ISBN 0471497274.
  5. Michel, MC; Beck-Sickinger, A; Cox, H; Doods, HN; Herzog, H; Larhammar, D; Quirion, R; Schwartz, T; Westfall, T (March 1998). "XVI. International Union of Pharmacology recommendations for the nomenclature of neuropeptide Y, peptide YY, and pancreatic polypeptide receptors". Pharmacological Reviews. American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. 50 (1): 143–50. PMID 9549761.
  6. Mascherin, Von Claudia (9 March 2015). "Keine Inder - das sind Vergewaltiger!". Blick (in German). Ringier. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  7. Varghese, Johnlee (9 March 2015). "German professor apologises for denying internship to Indian student, citing 'rape problem'". International Business Times. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  8. Phillip, Abby (9 March 2015). "German professor cites India's 'rape problem' in rejection of Indian applicant". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  9. Wendling, Mike (11 March 2015). "Second student allegedly rejected because of India's 'rape problem'". BBC Trending. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  10. Universität Leipzig. "Universität Leipzig: Nachrichten". Archived from the original on June 12, 2015. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
  11. "Statement in der Causa Beck-Sickinger". StuRa Leipzig. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
  12. https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-31834228
  13. http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/10/asia/india-rape-german-professor/
  14. http://rt.com/news/239105-german-professor-indian-student/
  15. India is not a country of rapists: German envoy to discriminating German professor (The Hindu)
  16. Prof rejects Indian intern over 'rape problem'
  17. German Professor Apologises for Denying Internship to Indian Student, Citing 'Rape Problem' (India Business Times)
  18. German professor denies internship to Indian student citing India’s ‘rape problem’ (Deccan Chronicle)
  19. German professor apologises for rejecting internship to student citing 'India's rape problem' (Hindustan Times)
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