COPI-vesicles: formation and scission

Felix Wieland

Dr. Wieland received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry, Munich, in 1978 for his work on the structure of fatty acid synthase with Feodor Lynen. In 1984, Dr. Wieland received his Habilitation in Biochemistry for his discovery of structure and biogenesis of the first bacterial glycoprotein, and in 1986 moved to Stanford University, USA, where he worked as a Visiting Scientist with James Rothman on intracellular transport. In 1988, Dr. Wieland moved to Heidelberg University as a Professor in the School of Medicine and Biology.

The research of Dr. Wieland is focused on the molecular mechanisms that underly vesicular transport of proteins and lipids. They have characterized COPI-coated vesicles that are involved in anterograde and retrograde protein transport in the early secretory pathway of eukaryotic cells. Dr. Wieland´s team has described soluble and membrane machinery of such vesicles, and the modes of their cooperation in vesicle biogenesis.