Walter Volknandt, Ph.D.

Vault Researchers Worldwide

Professor Dr. Walter Volknandt

J.W. Goethe-Universitaet
Biozentrumm
AK Neurochemie
Max-von-Laue-Str. 9
D-60438 Frankfurt/M.
Germany

Email: Volknandt@cns.uni-frankfurt.de

Dr. Walter Volknandt is a zoologist, cell biologist and neurochemist involved in research, teaching and administration at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University of Frankfurt, Germany. He studied biology and chemistry at the Georg August-Universty of Göttingen. He earned his diploma and PhD in the cell biology lab of Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Hardeland working on circadian rhythms. As a postdoctoral fellow he started to work with Prof. Herbert Zimmermann in the department of neurochemistry. He obtained the Venia legendi at the Zoological Institute in Frankfurt in 1989 and became apl. Professor in 1996.

Research in the Department of Neurochemistry comprises areas of the cellular and molecular neurobiology of the nervous system.with a major focus on the process of synaptic transmission. (In 1991 he worked for about a year with Dr. Richard Scheller at the Stabnford University, CA. Another topic focuses on the mechanism of exo- and endocytosis in the induced secretion of signaling substances from astrocytes. He entered the vault field in the late 90s, however, the primary focus of his lab is the synaptic vesicle proteome and the characterization of new proteins which his group has identified by proteomics.

Selected publications:

• Slesina, M., Inman, E.M., Stromberg, A.e., Goldhaber, J.I., Rome, L.H., Volknandt, W. (2006) Movement of vault particles visualized by GFP-tagged major vault protein. Cell Tiss. Res. 324, 403-410.


• Slesina, M., Inman E. M., Rome L. H., Volknandt, W. (2005) Nuclear localization of the major vault protein in U373 cells. Cell Tiss. Res. 321, 97-104.


• Ehrnsperger, C., Volknandt, W (2001) Major vault protein is a substrate of endogenous protein kinases in CHO and PC12 cells. Biol. Chem. 382, 1463-1471, 2001.


• 1989-1999 Website


• Herrmann, C., Golkaramnay, E., Inman, E., Rome, L.H., Volknandt, W. Recombinant major vault protein is targeted to neuritic tips of PC12 cells. J. Cell Biol. 144, 1163-1172, 1999.


• Li, J.-Y, Volknandt, W., Dahlstrom, A., Herrmann, C., Blasi, J., Das, B., Zimmermann, H. Axonal transport of ribonucleoprotein particles (Vaults). Neuroscience 99, 1055-1065.


• Herrmann, C., Kellner, R., Volknandt, W. Major vault protein of electric ray is a phosphoprotein. Neurochem. Res. 23, 39-45, 1998.


• Herrmann, C., Zimmermann, H., Volknandt, W. Analysis of a cDNA encoding the major vault protein from the electric ray Discopyge ommata. Gene 188, 85-90, 1997.


• Herrmann, C., Volknandt, W., Wittich, B., Kellner, R., Zimmermann, H. The major vault protein (MVP100) is contained in cholinergic nerve terminals of electric ray electric organ. J. Biol. Chem. 271, 13908-13915, 1996.


• Volknandt, W., Herrmann, C. The major protein of a large ribonucleoprotein particle (VAULT) is localized in nerve terminals. In: Neurochemistry: Cellular, Molecular, and Clinical Aspects (A.W. Teelken, J. Korf, eds.), Plenum, London, pp. 675-681, 1997.