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Prof. Dr. Leonhard Möckl

  • Professorship for Nano-optical Imaging
  • Associated Group Leader
  • Room A.3.428
  • Phone +49 9131 7133115
  • Email
  • Head of research group Physical Glycosciences

Leonhard Möckl studied Chemistry and Biochemistry at LMU Munich. He obtained his PhD in 2015 with a thesis on the role of the glycocalyx in membrane protein organization. In 2016, he joined the lab of W.E. Moerner at Stanford University, where he used single-molecule techniques to investigate the glycocalyx and furthermore developed deep-learning based approaches for single-molecule studies. In 2020, he joined the MPL as an independent group leader. Since 2024, he holds the professorship for Nano-optical Imaging at FAU, located at the newly established CITABLE.

In his free time, he loves to read, to play the piano, to hike, and to play volleyball.

2017

Dendrimer-Based Signal Amplification of Click-Labelled DNA in Situ

Nada Raddaoui, Samuele Stazzoni, Leonhard Möckl, Bastien Viverge, Florian Geiger, Hanna Engelke, Christoph Braeuchle, Thomas Carell

ChemBioChem 18 (17) 1716-1720 (2017) | Journal

The in vivo incorporation of alkyne-modified bases into the genome of cells is today the basis for the efficient detection of cell proliferation. Cells are grown in the presence of ethinyl-dU (EdU), fixed and permeabilised. The incorporated alkynes are then efficiently detected by using azide-containing fluorophores and the Cu-I-catalysed alkyne-azide click reaction. For a world in which constant improvement in the sensitivity of a given method is driving diagnostic advancement, we developed azide- and alkyne-modified dendrimers that allow the establishment of sandwich-type detection assays that show significantly improved signal intensities and signal-to-noise ratios far beyond that which is currently possible.

Azido Pentoses: A New Tool To Efficiently Label Mycobacterium tuberculosis Clinical Isolates

Katharina Kolbe, Leonhard Möckl, Victoria Sohst, Julius Brandenburg, Regina Engel, Sven Malm, Christoph Braeuchle, Otto Holst, Thisbe K. Lindhorst, et al.

ChemBioChem 18 SI (13) 1172-1176 (2017) | Journal

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the main causative agent of tuberculosis (Tb), has a complex cell envelope which forms an efficient barrier to antibiotics, thus contributing to the challenges of anti-tuberculosis therapy. However, the unique Mtb cell wall can be considered an advantage and be utilized to selectively label Mtb bacteria. Here we introduce three azido pentoses as new compounds for metabolic labeling of Mtb: 3-azido arabinose (3AraAz), 3-azido ribose (3RiboAz), and 5-azido arabinofuranose (5AraAz). 5AraAz demonstrated the highest level of Mtb labeling and was efficiently incorporated into the Mtb cell wall. All three azido pentoses can be easily used to label a variety of Mtb clinical isolates without influencing Mtb-dependent phagosomal maturation arrest in infection studies with human macrophages. Thus, this metabolic labeling method offers the opportunity to attach desired molecules to the surface of Mtb bacteria in order to facilitate investigation of the varying virulence characteristics of different Mtb clinical isolates, which influence the outcome of a Tb infection.

Back Cover: Azido Pentoses: A New Tool To Efficiently Label Mycobacterium tuberculosis Clinical Isolates (ChemBioChem 13/2017)

Katharina Kolbe, Leonhard Möckl, Victoria Sohst, Julius Brandenburg, Regina Engel, Sven Malm, Christoph Bräuchle, Otto Holst, Thisbe K. Lindhorst, et al.

Chembiochem 18 (13) 1172-1172 (2017) | Journal

The back cover picture shows a new metabolic labeling method for Mycobacterium tuberculosis that uses azido pentoses. Mtb clinical isolates can be effectively illuminated in the presence of these synthetic carbohydrate derivatives, and this allows insight into the unknown worlds of the Mtb cell wall and its arabinan metabolism.

New insights into the intracellular distribution pattern of cationic amphiphilic drugs

Magdalena Vater, Leonhard Möckl, Vanessa Gormanns, Carsten Schultz Fademrecht, Anna M. Mallmann, Karolina Ziegart-Sadowska, Monika Zaba, Marie L. Frevert, Christoph Braeuchle, et al.

Scientific Reports 7 44277 (2017) | Journal | PDF

Cationic amphiphilic drugs (CADs) comprise a wide variety of different substance classes such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, and antiarrhythmics. It is well recognized that CADs accumulate in certain intracellular compartments leading to specific morphological changes of cells. So far, no adequate technique exists allowing for ultrastructural analysis of CAD in intact cells. Azidobupramine, a recently described multifunctional antidepressant analogue, allows for the first time to perform high-resolution studies of CADs on distribution pattern and morphological changes in intact cells. We showed here that the intracellular distribution pattern of azidobupramine strongly depends on drug concentration and exposure time. The mitochondrial compartment (mDsRed) and the late endolysosomal compartment (CD63-GFP) were the preferred localization sites at low to intermediate concentrations (i.e. 1 mu M, 5 mu M). In contrast, the autophagosomal compartment (LC3-GFP) can only be reached at high concentrations (10 mu M) and long exposure times (72 hrs). At the morphological level, LC3-clustering became only prominent at high concentrations (10 mu M), while changes in CD63 pattern already occurred at intermediate concentrations (5 mu M). To our knowledge, this is the first study that establishes a link between intracellular CAD distribution pattern and morphological changes. Therewith, our results allow for gaining deeper understanding of intracellular effects of CADs.

The glycocalyx regulates the uptake of nanoparticles by human endothelial cells in vitro

Leonhard Möckl, Stephanie Hirn, Adriano A. Torrano, Bernd Uhl, Christoph Braeuchle, Fritz Krombach

Nanomedicine 12 (3) 207-217 (2017) | Journal

Aim: To assess the role of the endothelial glycocalyx (eGCX) for the uptake of nanoparticles by endothelial cells. Methods: The expression of the eGCX on cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells was determined by immunostaining of heparan sulfate. Enzymatic degradation of the eGCX was achieved by incubating the cells with eGCX-shedding enzymes. The uptake of 50-nm polystyrene nanospheres was quantified by confocal microscopy. Results: Human umbilical vein endothelial cells expressed a robust eGCX when cultured for 10 days. The uptake of both carboxylated and aminated polystyrene nanospheres was significantly increased in cells in which the glycocalyx was enzymatically degraded, while it remained at a low level in cells with an intact glycocalyx. Conclusion: The eGCX constitutes a barrier against the internalization of blood-borne nanoparticles by endothelial cells.

The Endothelial Glycocalyx Controls Interactions of Quantum Dots with the Endothelium and Their Translocation across the Blood-Tissue Border

Bernd Uhl, Stephanie Hirn, Roland Immler, Karina Mildner, Leonhard Möckl, Markus Sperandio, Christoph Braeuchle, Christoph A. Reichel, Dagmar Zeuschner, et al.

ACS Nano 11 (2) 1498-1508 (2017) | Journal

Advances in the engineering of nanoparticles (NPs), which represent particles of less than 100 nm in one external dimension, led to an increasing utilization of nanomaterials for biomedical purposes. A prerequisite for their use in diagnostic and therapeutic applications, however, is the targeted delivery to the site of injury. Interactions between blood-borne NPs and the vascular endothelium represent a critical step for nanoparticle delivery into diseased tissue. Here, we show that the endothelial glycocalyx, which constitutes a glycoprotein polysaccharide meshwork coating the luminal surface of vessels, effectively controls interactions of carboxyl-functionalized quantum dots with the micro vascular endothelium. Glycosaminoglycans of the endothelial glycocalyx were found to physically cover endothelial adhesion and signaling molecules, thereby preventing endothelial attachment, uptake, and translocation of these nanoparticles through different layers of the vessel wall. Conversely, degradation of the endothelial glycocalyx promoted interactions of these nanoparticles with microvascular endothelial cells under the pathologic condition of ischemia-reperfusion, thus identifying the injured endothelial glycocalyx as an essential element of the blood-tissue border facilitating the targeted delivery of nanomaterials to diseased tissue.

More Than 50 Years after Its Discovery in SiO2 Octahedral Coordination Has Also Been Established in SiS2 at High Pressure

Juergen Evers, Leonhard Möckl, Gilbert Oehlinger, Ralf Koeppe, Hansgeorg Schnoeckel, Oleg Barkalov, Sergey Medvedev, Pavel Naumov

Inorganic Chemistry 56 (1) 372-377 (2017) | Journal

SiO2 exhibits a high-pressure high-temperature polymorphism, leading to an increase in silicon coordination number and density. However, for the related compound SiS2 such pressure-induced behavior has not been observed with tetrahedral coordination yet. All four crystal structures of SiS2 known so far contain silicon with tetrahedral coordination. In the orthorhombic, ambient-pressure phase these tetrahedra share edges and achieve only low space filling and density. Up to 4 GPa and 1473 K, three phases can be quenched as metastable phases from high-pressure high-temperature to ambient conditions. Space occupancy and density are increased first by edge and corner sharing and then by comer sharing alone. The structural situation of SiS2 up to the current study resembles that of SiO2 in 1960: Then, in its polymorphs only Si-O-4 tetrahedra were known. But in 1961, a polymorph with rutile structure was discovered: octahedral Si-O-6 coordination was established. Now, 50 years later, we report here on the transition from 4 fold to 6-fold coordination in SiS2, the sulfur analogue of silica.

Here you can download Leonhard's CV.

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