Frank Fackelmayer
Group Leader “Molecular Epigenetics and Chromosome Biology”
Biomedical Research Institute (BRI-FORTH)
Frank O. Fackelmayer is a member of BRI-FORTH since 2007. He has a Biology Diploma from the University of Konstanz, Germany (1991) and a Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat., summa cum laude) from the same university (1995). He worked as a post-doctoral fellow and later assistant professor at the Chair of Genetics (Prof. Rolf Knippers) at the University of Konstanz, Germany. In 2000, he was appointed Head of Department for Molecular Cell Biology at the Heinrich-Pette-Institute in Hamburg, Germany, where he also was elected Chairman of the Scientific Board of the institute from January 2002 to December 2004, a position involved in the general management of the Heinrich-Pette-Institute such as the optimal distribution of human and financial resources, purchasing capital equipment, and edition of the yearly scientific progress reports of the institute. In early 2007, he moved to BRI-FORTH, Ioannina, Greece. He has published 37 papers with over 1.000 citations. His research interests include the functional architecture of the cell nucleus, epigenetics, and the physiological role of arginine methylation of proteins in regulating cellular pathways in health, disease and differentiation. In addition to these research areas, he has expert background in confocal microscopy, live cell imaging and in-vivo mobility measurements of proteins and DNA.
Herrmann F, Pably P, Eckerich C, Bedford MT, Fackelmayer FO. (2009) Human protein arginine methyltransferases in vivo - distinct properties of eight canonical members of the PRMT family. J Cell Sci. 122:667-77.
Herrmann F, Lee J, Bedford MT, Fackelmayer FO. (2005) Dynamics of human protein arginine methyltransferase 1(PRMT1) in vivo. J Biol Chem. 280:38005-10.
Fackelmayer FO. (2005) Protein arginine methyltransferases: guardians of the Arg? Trends Biochem Sci. 30:666-71.
Fackelmayer FO. (2005) A stable proteinaceous structure in the territory of inactive X chromosomes. J Biol Chem. 280:1720-23.
Jenke AC, Stehle IM, Herrmann F, Eisenberger T, Baiker A, Bode J, Fackelmayer FO, Lipps HJ. (2004) Nuclear scaffold/matrix attached region modules linked to a transcription unit are sufficient for replication and maintenance of a mammalian episome. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:11322-27.
Publications (after 2000)
Kipp, M., Schwab, B. L., Przybylski, M., Nicotera, P., and Fackelmayer, F. O. (2000). Apoptotic cleavage of scaffold attachment factor A (SAF-A) by caspase-3 occurs at a noncanonical cleavage site, J Biol Chem 275, 5031-6.
Kipp, M., Göhring, F., Ostendorp, T., van Drunen, C. M., van Driel, R., Przybylski, M., and Fackelmayer, F. O. (2000). SAF-Box, a Conserved Protein Domain That Specifically Recognizes Scaffold Attachment Region DNA, Mol Cell Biol 20, 7480-7489.
Kreitz, S., Fackelmayer, F. O., Gerdes, J., and Knippers, R. (2000). The proliferation-specific human Ki-67 protein is a constituent of compact chromatin, Exp Cell Res 261, 284-92.
Fackelmayer, F. O. (2000). Die Architektur des Zellkerns, BioSpektrum 6, 441-4.
Eckerich, C., Fackelmayer, F. O., and Knippers, R. (2001). Zinc affects the conformation of nucleoprotein filaments formed by replication protein A (RPA) and long natural DNA molecules, Biochim Biophys Acta 1538, 67-75.
Eggert, H., Schulz, M., Fackelmayer, F. O., Renkawitz, R., and Eggert, M. (2001). Effects of the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein U (hnRNP U/SAF- A) on glucocorticoid-dependent transcription in vivo, J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 78, 59-65.
Kappes, F., Burger, K., Baack, M., Fackelmayer, F. O., and Gruss, C. (2001). Subcellular localization of the human proto-oncogene protein DEK, J Biol Chem 276, 26317-23.
Jahr, S., Hentze, H., Englisch, S., Hardt, D., Fackelmayer, F. O., Hesch, R. D., and Knippers, R. (2001). DNA fragments in the blood plasma of cancer patients: quantitations and evidence for their origin from apoptotic and necrotic cells, Cancer Res 61, 1659-65.
Jenke, B. H., Fetzer, C. P., Stehle, I. M., Jonsson, F., Fackelmayer, F. O., Conradt, H., Bode, J., and Lipps, H. J. (2002). An episomally replicating vector binds to the nuclear matrix protein SAF-A in vivo, EMBO Rep 3, 349-54.
Helbig, R. and Fackelmayer, F.O., (2003) Scaffold Attachment Factor A (SAF-A) is Concentrated in Inactive X Chromosome Territories Through its RGG Domain. Chromosoma 112:173–182
Mearini, G., Nielsen, P.E., and Fackelmayer, F.O., (2004) Localization and Dynamics of Plasmid DNA in Live Mammalian Nuclei. Nucleic Acids Res. 32(8):2642-51
Jenke, A., Stehle, I. M., Herrmann, F., Eisenberger T., Armin Baiker A., Bode J., Fackelmayer F.O. and Lipps H. J. (2004) Nuclear scaffold/matrix attached region modules linked to a transcription unit are sufficient for replication and maintenance of a mammalian episome. Proc. Natl. Acad Sci USA 101(31):11322-7
Fackelmayer, F.O. (2004) Nuclear Architecture and Transcription Factors in the Quest for New Therapeutics. Curr. Pharma. Design 10(23):2851-2860
Herrmann, F. and Fackelmayer, F.O. (2004) Arginine Methylation of Scaffold Attachment Factor A (SAF-A) by hnRNP-particle associated PRMT1. J. Biol. Chem. 279 (47): 48774
Fackelmayer F.O. (2005) A stable proteinaceous structure in the territory of inactive X chromosomes. J. Biol. Chem. 280(3):1720-3
Herrmann, F. and Fackelmayer, F.O. (2005) Nuclear Architecture - On higher ground. Report on the Third Elmau Meeting for Nuclear Organization. Chromosome Res. 13(1):3-8
Herrmann, F., Lee, J., Bedford, M.T., and Fackelmayer, F.O. (2005). Dynamics of Human Protein Arginine Methyltransferase 1 (PRMT1) in vivo. J. Biol. Chem. 280(45):38005-10
Fackelmayer, F.O. (2005) Protein Arginine Methyltransferases: Guardians of the Arg? Trends Biochem. Sci. 30(12):666-71
Mearini, G. and Fackelmayer, F.O. (2006) Local chromatin mobility is independent of active transcription. Cell Cycle, 5(17):1989-95
Malyavantham KS, Bhattacharya S, Barbeitos M, Mukherjee L, Xu J, Fackelmayer F.O., Berezney R. (2008). Identifying functional neighborhoods within the cell nucleus: proximity analysis of early S-phase replicating chromatin domains to sites of transcription, RNA polymerase II, HP1gamma, matrin 3 and SAF-A. J Cell Biochem. 105(2):391-403.
Herrmann F. and Fackelmayer, F.O. (2009) Nucleo-cytoplasmic shuttling of protein arginine methyltransferase 1 (PRMT1) requires enzymatic activity. Genes to Cells. 14(3):309-17.
Herrmann F, Pably P, Eckerich C, Bedford MT, and Fackelmayer F.O. (2009). Human protein arginine methyltransferases in vivo--distinct properties of eight canonical members of the PRMT family. J Cell Sci. 122(Pt 5):667-77.
Scaramuzzino C, Monaghan J, Milioto C, Lanson NA Jr, Maltare A, Aggarwal T, Casci I, Fackelmayer FO, Pennuto M, Pandey UB., (2013). Protein arginine methyltransferase 1 and 8 interact with FUS to modify its sub-cellular distribution and toxicity in vitro and in vivo. PLoS One. 8(4):e61576.
Suchankova, J; Legartova, S; Sehnalova, P; Kozubek, S; Valente, S; Labella, D; Mai, A; Eckerich, C; Fackelmayer, FO; Sorokin, DV; Bartova, E., (2014). PRMT1 arginine methyltransferase accumulates in cytoplasmic bodies that respond to selective inhibition and DNA damage, EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HISTOCHEMISTRY, 58(2): 1-2.
Hall, LL; Carone, DM; Gomez, AV; Kolpa, HJ; Byron, M; Mehta, N; Fackelmayer, FO; Lawrence, JB., (2014). Stable C0T-1 Repeat RNA Is Abundant and Is Associated with Euchromatic Interphase Chromosomes, CELL, 156(5): 907-919.
Scaramuzzino C, Casci I, Parodi S, Lievens PM, Polanco MJ, Milioto C, Chivet M, Monaghan J, Mishra A, Badders N, Aggarwal T, Grunseich C, Sambataro F, Basso M, Fackelmayer FO, Taylor JP, Pandey UB, Pennuto M., (2015). Protein Arginine Methyltransferase 6 Enhances Polyglutamine-Expanded Androgen Receptor Function and Toxicity in Spinal and Bulbar Muscular Atrophy. Neuron. 2015 Jan 7;85(1):88-100.
Kolpa HJ, Fackelmayer FO, Lawrence JB., (2016). SAF-A Requirement in Anchoring XIST RNA to Chromatin Varies in Transformed and Primary Cells. Dev Cell. 2016 Oct 10;39(1):9-10.