Dr. Susanne Huhmann

POSTDOC in the group of Prof. Dr. Christian Becker: Tailor-made ubiquitin chains for targeting the UPS or autophagy

RESEARCH ASSISTANT and POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH in the group of Prof. Dr. Beate Koksch: Synthesis and structural characterization of glycopeptides. Crystal structure analysis, proteolytic stability and biological activity of HIV-1 fusion inhibitors.

RESEARCH ASSISTANT and DOCTORAL RESEARCH in the group of Prof. Dr. Beate Koksch: Design and synthesis of model peptides and HIV-1 fusion inhibitors; site-specific modification of peptides with fluorinated amino acids; synthesis of fluorinated amino acids; investigation of proteolytic stability by systematic enzyme studies; characterization of fluorine’s influence on peptide folding, peptide-peptide interactions, and binding kinetics; maintenance and repair of peptide synthesizer robots and HPLC systems.

8th Peptide Engineering Meeting (PEM8-2018); November 8-10, 2018; Berlin, Germany Helped manage registration; designed and printed book of abstracts; helped with customization of exhibition spaces; was contact person for exhibitors and conference participants; helped plan scientific program and organized poster and speed talk sessions; prepared content for opening and closing remarks.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE Supervised students doing a Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis, or research internships in the Koksch group Supervised undergraduate students in basic organic chemical lab course Lead seminar in basic bioorganic chemistry and for Master’s level course in bioorganic chemistry Supervised students of Bachelor’s degree program in biology in a chemistry practical course and lead seminar related to it Contributed to outreach programs “Girls’ Day“ and “Long Night of the Sciences“

Student representative of the research training network 1582/2 "Fluorine as key element" CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION 6th PhD Workshop of the DFG-RTG 1582 “Fluorine as Key Element”, October 15-16, 2015; Schwielowsee, Germany Scouted locations; negotiated for accommodations; compiled scientific program.

Internship in Medicinal Chemistry: Synthesized sulfoximines and investigated biocatalysis on these compounds using esterases and nitrilases with the aim of optimizing conversion rates and yields.

Internship in Surface Technology and Quality Control: Synthesis of coating materials for automotive industry in industrial scale and qualitative examination of products.

Doctorate in the research group of Prof. Dr. Beate Koksch Dissertation: Stabilization of peptides by site-specific incorporation of fluorinated amino acids: Model studies and the development of fluorinated, peptide-based HIV-1 fusion inhibitors

Internship in Organic Synthesis in the research group of Prof. Dr. C.C. Tzschucke Synthesized different 9,9-diaryl-2,7-dibromofluorens and investigated their electrochemical properties using cyclic voltammetry.

02/2013-09/2013: Master thesis in Bioorganic Chemistry, Prof. Dr. B. Koksch, advisor Title: Towards fluorinated HIV entry inhibitors Investigation of properties (e.g., hydrophobicity and helix propensity) of side-chain fluorinated amino acids and incorporation into HIV-1 fusion inhibitors.

08/2011-09/2011: Bachelor thesis, Prof. Dr. B. Koksch, advisor Title: Impact of fluorinated amino acids on the proteolytic stability of model peptides. Synthesis of model peptide library containing fluorinated amino acids; investigation of stability towards proteolytic digestion.