PROCARS Lab

PROtein CARgo Sorting to bacterial extracellular vesicles (PROCARS)

Our research group has developed a modular system for expressing translocatable recombinant proteins and sorting them to membranes or the periplasmic space in bacteria. Using this system, we construct vectors and engineer bacterial strains to enrich such proteins in bacterial extracellular vesicles (BEVs) of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. The proteins are used to label the membranes of BEVs and to load functional proteins into the lumen or onto the membranes of BEVs. The aims of our projects are:

• identification of different BEV species in BEV preparations.
• production of BEVs that can be localized in mammalian cells and animals.
• production of BEVs loaded with therapeutic proteins for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.

For this purpose, we use pool-cloning methods, reporter genes, immunological and fluorescence assays, microscopy and nanoparticle tracking analysis.

Principal Investigator:

Dr. Gerald Seidel

Professor for Microbiology