hanna wacklin-knecht

Hanna Wacklin

Instrument Scientist - Neutron Reflectrometry

Research Interests

My research interests lie in biophysical chemistry of lipids and proteins at interfaces, including their formation, structure and interaction with bioactive molecules such as enzymes, toxins and antimicrobial agents.

Current Projects and Collaborations

  • Mechanism of Dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) in the membrane-bound state (with Wolfgang Knecht at LP3 Lund University)
  • Deuteration of yeast cell membranes (with R. Delhom/G. Fragneto at ILL, Katarina Koruza/Wolfgang Knecht at LP3 Lund University)
  • Linking genes and the lipid composition of pathogenic yeasts to virulence/resistance factors (with Wolfgang Knecth, LP3 Lund University)
  • Enzymatic synthesis of deuterated small molecules - DEUNET chemical deuteration network (http://deuteration.net) and SINE2020 EU project (www.sine2020.eu )

Selected Publications

  • T. Narayanan, H. Wacklin, O. Konovalov, R. Lund, Recent applications of synchrotron radiation and neutrons in the study of soft matter, Crystallography Reviews, (2017) 1-67.  DOI: 10.1080/0889311X.2016.1277212
  • Z. Fisher, A. Jackson, A. Kovalevsky, E. Oksanen, H. Wacklin, Chapter 1 - Biological Structures, in: F. Fernandez-Alonso, D.L. Price (Eds.) Experimental Methods in the Physical Sciences, vol. 49, Academic Press, 2017, pp. 1-75. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-805324-9.00001-7
  • H. P. Wacklin, B.Bakrač, M.Moulin, M.Haertlein, T.Forsythe, G. Anderluh and R.S. Norton, (2016) “Neutron reflection study of the interaction of the eukaryotic pore-forming cytolysin equinatoxin II with lipid membranes: effects of sphingomyelin and cholesterol”, BBA Biomembranes, 1858 (4): 640-52, DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2015.12.019.
  • N.R. Yepuri, T.A. Darwish, A.M. Krause-Heuer, A.E. Leung, R.Delhom, H.P. Wacklin, P.J. Holden, (2016)“The synthesis of perdeuterated 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC-d82) and the characterisation of its lipid bilayer membrane structure by neutron reflectometry“, ChemPlusChem, 81(3): 315-321, DOI: 10.1002/cplu.201500452
  • de Ghellinck, A., Fragneto, G., Laux, V., Haertlein, M., Jouhet, J., Sferrazza, M., Wacklin, H.P., (2015) “Lipid polyunsaturation determines the extent of membrane structural changes induced by Amphotericin B in Pichia pastoris yeast”, BBA Biomembranes, 1848, 2317–2325, DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2015.06.006.
  • L. Darré, J. Iglesias-Fernandez, A.Kohlmeyer, H. Wacklin, C. Domene (2015), “Molecular dynamics simulations and neutron reflectivity as an effective approach to characterize biological membranes and related macromolecular assemblies”, (2015) Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, 11 (10): 4875–4884, doi: 10.1021/acs.jctc.5b00635.
  • T. Lind, H.Wacklin, J. Schiller, M.Moulin, M. Haertlein, T. Günther Pomorski and M. Cárdenas  (2015), “Formation and characterization of supported lipid bilayers composed of hydrogenated and deuterated Escherichia coli lipids”, PLos ONE, 10(12): e0144671. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0144671
  • A. de Ghellinck, H.Schaller, V.Laux, M.Haertlein, M.Sferrazza, E.Marechal, H.Wacklin, J.Jouhet, G.Fragneto (2014), “Production and Analysis of Perdeuterated Lipids from Pichia pastoris Cells”, PlosOne 9(4), e92999. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0092999
  • A. P.Dabkowska, C.S. Niman, G.  Piret, H. Persson, H.P. Wacklin, H. Linke, C. N. Prinz, and T. Nylander (2014), "Fluid and Highly Curved Model Membranes on Vertical Nanowire Arrays", Nano Letters, 2014, 14 (8), 4286–4292. DOI:10.1021/nl500926y
  • C. Wang, H.Wacklin, D. Craik# (2012), “Cyclotides Insert Into Lipid Bilayers to Form Membrane Pores and Destabilize the Membrane Through Hydrophobic and Phosphoethanolamine-specific Interactions”, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 287 (52), pp. 43884–43898.  DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M112.421198
  • Wacklin, H.P. “Composition and asymmetry in supported lipid membranes formed by vesicle fusion”  Langmuir (2011) 27(12) 7698-7707 DOI: 10.1021/la200683e
  • Wacklin, H.P. "Inferfacial Mechanism of Phospholipase A2: pH dependent activation and Me-β-cyclodextrin activation"   Biochemistry (2009) 48 5874-5881 DOI: 10.1021/bi802280b

Career History

  • 2014 - Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Division of Physical Chemistry, Lund University
  • 2011 - Instrument Scientist, European Spalation Source, Lund
  • 2011-2016 : Adjunct Associate Professor, Institute for Chemistry, Copenhagen University.
  • 2009-2010: Instrument co-Responsible for FIGARO Neutron Reflectometer, ILL Grenoble
  • 2006-2009: Post-doc fellow, National Deuteration Facility, ANSTO, Sydney
  • 2005-2006: Toshiba Research Fellow, Advanced Materials Laboratory, Toshiba R&D Centre, Tokyo
  • 2003-2005: Post-doc fellow, Oxford University, Physical Chemistry Laboratory
  • 2000-2003: DPhil in Physical Chemistry, University College, Oxford University
  • 1995-1999: MSci in Chemistry, Imperial College, London.