The naturally occurring dipeptide carnosine – still mysterious after all these years

• Prof Dr Frank Gaunitz
  Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Leipzig
  "The naturally occurring dipeptide carnosine – still mysterious after all these years"
  
  07th March 2025, 12:00
  Paul Flechsig Institute - Center of Neuropathology and Brain Research, Room 3093, Liebigstraße 19 (Haus C), 04103 Leipzig

 

Teaser:

The dipeptide carnosine, composed of beta-alanine and L-histidine, was first described 125 years ago. Since the compound occurs in exceptionally high concentrations in type II muscle fibers, the question of its physiological significance has been researched for decades. Remarkably, the number of physiological functions attributed to the compound has not decreases due to the studies conducted but instead expanded. Since some studies have also indicated that high muscle concentrations could benefit athletes, and laboratory experiments have suggested an anti-aging effect, the dipeptide, and its precursor beta-alanine have also become somewhat popular among athletes and in the cosmetics industry.

Nevertheless, medicine has also discovered carnosine, and data from over 30 completed clinical studies in which carnosine, beta-alanine, the derivative polaprezinc, or foods containing carnosine/beta-alanine were used are available.

The lecture will give a brief history of carnosine, with a particular focus on the speaker's own research, which has examined the dipeptide's anti-neoplastic effects, particularly for the treatment of glioblastomas.

Bio:

Frank Gaunitz's academic journey began as a student of biology at the Ruhr University Bochum in 1980. His transition from a student to a researcher was marked by his work as a student assistant at the Institute of Biophysics, where he received his diploma in 1986 with a thesis on the development of spin labels and their use for electron spin resonance spectroscopy.

After graduating, he worked as a research associate at the Institute of Biochemistry at the Ruhr University Bochum from 1986 to 1988, with guest stays at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones in Madrid, the Instituto de Biomedicina in Seville and the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen. During this time, he made significant contributions to the field by elucidating the structure and function of potassium channels using genetic engineering, classical genetics (Drosophila genetics), and electrophysiological techniques (patch-clamp/voltage clamp).

From 1988 to 1992, he was a research associate at the Institute of Cell Biology at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, where he received his doctorate in molecular genetics of hypotrich ciliates from the Faculty of Biology in 1990. Subsequently, he worked as a research associate at the Institute of Physiological Chemistry in Tübingen from 1992 to 1998. During this time, his work focused on elucidating the liver-specific expression of genes.

He continued this work from 1998 to 2003 as a research associate at the Institute of Biochemistry at the Medical Faculty in Leipzig, where he habilitated in 2002 and received the venia legendi. From 2003 to 2009, he worked as a senior assistant at the same institute.

Since 2009, Frank Gaunitz has been at the helm of the Clinic and Polyclinic for Neurosurgery research laboratories at the University Hospital Leipzig. His leadership was further recognized when he was appointed adjunct professor in 2010. His current work is centered on the metabolism of malignant gliomas, with a specific focus on the potential of the dipeptide carnosine as an antineoplastic agent.

It should not go unmentioned at this point that Frank Gaunitz has been active at the University of Leipzig as an honorary director of the studium universale, which is anchored in the basic order of the University of Leipzig. For more than 10 years, he together with a small working group organizes semester-long lecture series on various topics.