Meytal Landau is Lead Scientist at DESY at the Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) and Professor at the Center for Experimental Medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). In addition, she is Visiting Associate Group Leader at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Hamburg and Visiting Associate Professor at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Amongst other distinctions, she received the Biophysical Society’s Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award (2019) and the Wolf Foundation’s Krill Prize for Excellence in Scientific Research (2018).

Meytal Landau’s research primarily focuses on protein fibers that possess robust structures, such as amyloids. Amyloids are commonly associated with neurodegenerative diseases, but are also secreted by various species across different kingdoms of life to aid in physiological functions and survival. For instance, certain microbial amyloids increase the aggressiveness of infections. Meytal Landau’s and other labs have only started to uncover the mysteries surrounding the functions and structures of these functional fibrils, and they are working towards revealing new concepts related to their structure–function relationships, mechanisms of action, interactions, modulation and design. To aid in their research, they are using advanced infrastructures at DESY and CSSB, including DESY’s PETRA III synchrotron.

Meytal Landau’s research has the potential to facilitate the development of antivirulence drugs and durable antimicrobials for the coating of medical devices, food packaging, water pipes and other surfaces that are susceptible to resilient and aggressive pathogens. Additionally, the findings may shed light on the molecular basis of the amyloid–antimicrobial link and reveal a potential role in neuroimmunity for pathological amyloids in humans.

Academic career

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