Dietmar Gerald Mehlhorn: Plant Physiology First Author

Dietmar Gerald Mehlhorn, first author of “Looking for a Safe Haven: Tail-anchored Proteins and their Membrane Insertion Pathways“

Current Position: PhD student in Prof. Dr. Christopher Grefen’s lab for Molecular & Cellular Botany at the Ruhr-University Bochum.

Education: BSc in Biosciences at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. MSc in Biology (Cellular and Molecular Biology of Plants) at the University of Tübingen, Germany. PhD fellow of the Carl‑Zeiss‑foundation.

Non-scientific Interests: Reading, Hiking, Board and Video Games, Hunting

Brief bio: The first contact with the conundrum of how tail-anchored proteins GET inserted into membranes was at the start of my master studies in Tübingen. I was fascinated by the difference to the commonly known translocation pathway and stuck to this field in Prof. Dr. Christopher Grefens group. Since then I tried to unravel how the “Guided Entry of Tail-anchored protein” pathway works in plants and if alternative pathways exist. This really exciting research put me in touch with many skilled scientists from different fields. Despite similarities to opisthokonts, my research always showed intriguing distinctions in plants keeping every new discovery fascinating which is also a strong motivation for me. After finishing my PhD, I want to further improve my skills and hope to intensify my research.