Göttinger Graduiertenzentrum für Neurowissenschaften, Biophysik und Molekulare Biowissenschaften

Dobbelstein, Matthias, Prof. Dr.

Professor of Molecular Oncology


  • 1993 Dr. med., University of Munich, Germany
  • 1993 – 1996 Postdoctoral fellow, Princeton University, USA
  • 1997 – 2004 Group leader, University of Marburg, Germany
  • 2004 – 2005 Professor of Molecular Oncology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense
  • since 2005 Head of the Department of Molecular Oncology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany
  • since 2022 Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany



Major Research Interests

Our group is studying the tumor suppressor p53 and its antagonist MDM2. The MDM2 oncoprotein affects cancer cell growth in multiple ways, and we strive to understand how this works. This includes the impact of MDM2 on chromatin, DNA replication and intracellular signaling pathways.
Exploring the mechanisms of cancer chemotherapy, we began to analyze how chemotherapeutics affect virus replication. This led us to a new area of our research, the pharmacotherapy of virus infections. In particular, we are asking how nucleoside analogues interfere with the replication of infectious organisms, including SARS-CoV-2, influenza viruses, and parasites.


Some of my lectures are available as youtube videos, at the channel mdobbelstein.
Please see http://www.youtube.com/user/mdobbelstein?feature=results_main.




Homepage Department/Research Group

https://molonc.umg.eu/research/dobbelstein-lab/

https://www.mpinat.mpg.de/dobbelstein


Selected Recent Publications


  • Schrell L, Scheibner D, Dickmanns A, Stegmann KM, Michaely LM, Graaf-Rau A, Beer P, Parker A, Diederich S, Balkema-Buschmann A, Dobbelstein M. Inhibitors of pyrimidine synthesis synergize with N4-hydroxycytidine to diminish influenza virus replication. Antiviral Res. 2025;244:106286. doi:10.1016/j.antiviral.2025.106286
  • Nikolova V, Linnemannstöns K, Bendel ME, Machado M, Ganter B, Budimir P, Vogts M, Fischer C, Ganter M, Meier C, Dobbelstein M. Membrane-permeable 5-fluorodeoxyuridine triphosphate derivatives inhibit the proliferation of Plasmodium falciparum. ACS Infect Dis. 2025. doi:10.1021/acsinfecdis.5c00544
  • Schrell L, Fuchs HL, Dickmanns A, Scheibner D, Olejnik J, Hume AJ, Reineking W, Störk T, Müller M, Graaf-Rau A, Diederich S, Finke S, Baumgärtner W, Mühlberger E, Balkema-Buschmann A, Dobbelstein M. Inhibitors of dihydroorotate dehydrogenase synergize with the broad antiviral activity of 4'-fluorouridine. Antiviral Res. 2025;233:106046. doi:10.1016/j.antiviral.2024.106046
  • Jansen J, Dobbelstein M. MDM4 exon skipping upon dysfunctional ribosome assembly. Trends Cell Biol. 2025;35(7):544–547. doi:10.1016/j.tcb.2024.10.006
  • Paulsohn M-B, Frahnert KH, Schlösser D, Oschwald J, Kopp W, Fang X, Schneider C, Tapia Contreras C, Danieli Mackay A, Ludewig F, Bleyer M, Salinas G, Schneider G, Hessmann E, Dobbelstein M. Simultaneous targeting of KRAS and CDK4 synergistically induces durable growth arrest in pancreatic cancer cells. Cell Death Dis. 2025. In press.
  • Jansen J, Bohnsack KE, Böhlken-Fascher S, Bohnsack MT, Dobbelstein M. The ribosomal protein L22 binds the MDM4 pre-mRNA and promotes exon skipping to activate p53 upon nucleolar stress. Cell Rep. 2024;43:114610. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114610
  • Giansanti C, Manzini V, Dickmanns A, Palumbieri MD, Sanchi A, Kienle SM, Rieth S, Scheffner M, Lopes M, Dobbelstein M. MDM2 binds and ubiquitinates PARP1 to enhance DNA replication fork progression. Cell Rep. 2022;39:110879. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110879
  • Stegmann KM, Dickmanns A, Heinen N, Blaurock C, Karrasch T, Breithaupt A, Klopfleisch R, Uhlig N, Eberlein V, Issmail L, Herrmann ST, Schreieck A, Peelen E, Kohlhof H, Sadeghi B, Riek A, Speakman JR, Groß U, Görlich D, Vitt D, Müller T, Grunwald T, Pfaender S, Balkema-Buschmann A, Dobbelstein M. Inhibitors of dihydroorotate dehydrogenase cooperate with molnupiravir and N4-hydroxycytidine to suppress SARS-CoV-2 replication. iScience. 2022;25:104293. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.104293
  • Güttler T, Aksu M, Dickmanns A, Stegmann KM, Gregor K, Rees R, Taxer W, Rymarenko O, Schünemann J, Dienemann C, Gunkel P, Mussil B, Krull J, Teichmann U, Groß U, Cordes VC, Dobbelstein M*, Görlich D*. Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 by highly potent, hyperthermostable, and mutation-tolerant nanobodies. EMBO J. 2021;40:e107985. doi:10.15252/embj.2021107985 (equal corresponding authors)
  • Wohlberedt K, Klusmann I, Derevyanko PK, Henningsen K, Choo JAMY, Manzini V, Magerhans A, Giansanti C, Eischen CM, Jochemsen AG, Dobbelstein M. Mdm4 supports DNA replication in a p53-independent fashion. Oncogene. 2020;39(25):4828–4843. doi:10.1038/s41388-020-1337-9
  • Klusmann I, Wohlberedt K, Magerhans A, Teloni F, Korbel JO, Altmeyer M, Dobbelstein M. Chromatin modifiers Mdm2 and RNF2 prevent RNA:DNA hybrids that impair DNA replication. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018;115(48):E11311–E11320. doi:10.1073/pnas.1806314115
  • Schulz-Heddergott R, Stark N, Edmunds SJ, Li J, Conradi LC, Bohnenberger H, Ceteci F, Greten FR, Dobbelstein M*, Moll UM*. Therapeutic ablation of gain-of-function mutant p53 in colorectal cancer inhibits Stat3-mediated tumor growth and invasion. Cancer Cell. 2018;34(2):298–314. doi:10.1016/j.ccell.2018.06.003
  • Kramer D, Stark N, Schulz-Heddergott R, Erytch N, Edmunds S, Roßmann L, Bastians H, Concin N, Moll UM, Dobbelstein M. Strong antitumor synergy between DNA crosslinking and HSP90 inhibition causes massive premitotic DNA fragmentation in ovarian cancer cells. Cell Death Differ. 2017;24(2):300–316. doi:10.1038/cdd.2016.124
  • Klusmann I, Rodewald S, Müller L, Friedrich M, Wienken M, Li Y, Schulz-Heddergott R, Dobbelstein M. p53 activity results in DNA replication fork processivity. Cell Rep. 2016;17(7):1845–1857. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2016.10.036
  • Wienken M, Dickmanns A, Nemajerova A, Kramer D, Najafova Z, Weiss M, Karpiuk O, Kassem M, Zhang Y, Lozano G, Johnsen SA, Moll UM, Zhang X, Dobbelstein M. MDM2 associates with Polycomb repressor complex 2 and enhances stemness-promoting chromatin modifications independent of p53. Mol Cell. 2016;61(1):68–83. doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2015.12.008