Stephan Hirschi

stephan hirschi

Stephan joined the lab in January 2022 as a postdoctoral researcher funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). He will be investigating the structural basis of erythrocyte invasion by the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. To this end, he aims to determine the structure of a central protein complex, which forms the core of the parasitic invasion machinery.

Before joining the lab, Stephan completed his PhD in the lab of Dimitrios Fotiadis at the University of Bern, focusing on the structural and functional characterization of membrane transport proteins. In particular, he determined the cryo-EM structure of the bacterial light-driven proton pump proteorhodopsin and assessed its potential as a tool for synthetic biological applications.

Jamwal, A., Constantin, C.F., Hirschi, S., Henrich, S., Bildl, W., Fakler, B., Draper, S.J., Schulte, U. Higgins, M.K. (2022) Erythrocyte invasion-neutralising antibodies prevent Plasmodium falciparum RH5 from binding to basigin-containing membrane protein complexes. eLife 12 e83681

Hirschi S, Kalbermatter D, Ucurum Z, Fotiadis D. (2021) Cryo-EM structure and dynamics of the green-light absorbing proteorhodopsin. Nat. Commun. 12 4107

Stauffer M, Hirschi S, Ucurum Z, Harder D, Schlesinger R, Fotiadis D. (2020) Engineering and production of the light-driven proton pump bacteriorhodopsin in 2D crystals for basic research and applied technologies. Methods Protoc. 3 E51.

Hirschi S, Kalbermatter D, Ucurum Z, Fotiadis D. (2020) Cryo-electron microscopic and X-ray crystallographic analysis of the light-driven proton pump proteorhodopsin reveals a pentameric assembly. J. Struct. Biol. 4 100024

Hirschi S, Fotiadis D. (2020) Purification of Membrane Proteins by Affinity Chromatography with On-column Protease Cleavage. Methods Mol. Biol. 2127 139-150.

Bonetti S, Hirschi S, Bosshart PD. (2020) Expression, purification and crystallization of an SLC16 monocarboxylate transporter family homologue specific for l-lactate. Protein. Expr. Purif. 165 105484.

Gaitzsch J, Hirschi S, Freimann S, Fotiadis D, Meier W. (2019) Directed Insertion of Light-Activated Proteorhodopsin into Asymmetric Polymersomes from an ABC Block Copolymer. Nano Lett. 19 2503-2508.

Hirschi S, Fischer N, Kalbermatter D, Laskowski PR, Ucurum Z, Müller DJ, Fotiadis D. (2019) Design and assembly of a chemically switchable and fluorescently traceable light-driven proton pump system for bionanotechnological applications. Sci. Rep. 9 1046.

Ritzmann N, Thoma J, Hirschi S, Kalbermatter D, Fotiadis D, Müller DJ. (2017) Fusion Domains Guide the Oriented Insertion of Light-Driven Proton Pumps into Liposomes. Biophys. J. 113 1181-1186.

Boggavarapu R, Hirschi S, Harder D, Meury M, Ucurum Z, Bergeron MJ, Fotiadis D. (2016) Purification of Human and Mammalian Membrane Proteins Expressed in Xenopus laevisFrog Oocytes for Structural Studies. Methods Mol. Biol. 1432. 223-242.

Hirschi S, Stauffer M, Harder D, Müller DJ, Meier W, Fotiadis D. (2016) Engineering and Assembly of Protein Modules into Functional Molecular Systems. Chimia 70 398-401.

Harder D, Hirschi S, Ucurum Z, Goers R, Meier W, Müller D J, Fotiadis D. (2016) Engineering a Chemical Switch into the Light-driven Proton Pump Proteorhodopsin by Cysteine Mutagenesis and Thiol Modification. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 55 8846-8849.