Biography
Dr. Truttmann obtained his undergraduate degree in molecular biology and his master's degree in biochemistry and biophysics at Biocenter, University of Basel, Switzerland. In 2006, he joined the laboratory of Dr. Christoph Dehio at the same institute and subsequently obtained his Ph.D. degree in microbiology in 2010. Following a two-year detour into financial and management consulting, in 2013, Dr. Truttmann joined the laboratory of Dr. Hidde Ploegh at Whitehead institute for biomedical research / MIT as a postdoctoral fellow. Since 2018, Dr. Truttmann has been an Assistant Professor in Molecular and Integrative Physiology at the University of Michigan.
Areas of Interest
Aggregation-associated, neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) pose a significant societal and economic burden that drastically affects the lives of both patients and family caretakers. A unifying theme that connects these NDs is their strong association with an aging-dependent, progressive failure of cellular maintenance mechanisms that control pathological protein misfolding and aggregation.
The Truttmann Lab focuses on determining the impact post-translational protein modifications (PTM) have on proteostasis in the context of aging and aging-associated diseases. We are particularly interested in a novel PTM, termed AMPylation, that regulates the activity of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) family proteins. We employ numerous genetic, biochemical, and behavioral approaches in conjunction with several model systems (Caenorhabditis elegans, mice, primary human tissue) to elucidate how PTMs control chaperone activity and regulate proteostasis well as protein aggregation processes.