Contact details
Dr Birgit Leitinger
Birgit Leitinger joined Imperial College London in 2005 as a Lecturer and has been a Senior Lecturer since October 2009.
She obtained her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Basel, Switzerland. In 1996 she joined the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London as a postdoctoral fellow, working with Dr Nancy Hogg in cell adhesion. In 2001 she moved to UCL, Department of Medicine, where she started her independent research as a Senior Research Fellow.
Her group's principal research interests are in cell adhesion, the interactions of cells with the extracellular matrix, and the mechanism of activation of cellular receptors.
Since December 2010 she has been Education Co-ordinator for the BHF Centre of Research Excellence.
Selected Publications
Journals
- Xu H; Bihan D; Chang F; Huang PH; Farndale RW; Leitinger B. (2012). Discoidin domain receptors promote α1β1- and α2β1-integrin mediated cell adhesion to collagen by enhancing integrin activation. PLoS One. 7:e52209. Author weblink DOI.
- Carafoli F; Mayer MC; Shiraishi K; Pecheva MA; Chan LY; Nan R; Leitinger B; Hohenester E. (4 Apr 2012). Structure of the discoidin domain receptor 1 extracellular region bound to an inhibitory Fab fragment reveals features important for signaling. Structure. 20:688-697. Author weblink DOI Open Access copy.
- Leitinger B. (2011). Transmembrane collagen receptors. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 27:265-290. Author weblink DOI.
- Hidalgo-Carcedo C; Hooper S; Chaudhry SI; Williamson P; Harrington K; Leitinger B; Sahai E. (Jan 2011). Collective cell migration requires suppression of actomyosin at cell-cell contacts mediated by DDR1 and the cell polarity regulators Par3 and Par6. Nat Cell Biol. 13:49-58. Author weblink DOI.
- Ali BR; Xu H; Akawi NA; John A; Karuvantevida NS; Langer R; Al-Gazali L; Leitinger B. (1 Jun 2010). Trafficking defects and loss of ligand binding are the underlying causes of all reported DDR2 missense mutations found in SMED-SL patients. Hum Mol Genet. 19:2239-2250. Author weblink DOI.
- Konitsiotis AD; Raynal N; Bihan D; Hohenester E; Farndale RW; Leitinger B. (14 Mar 2008). Characterization of high affinity binding motifs for the discoidin domain receptor DDR2 in collagen. J Biol Chem. 283:6861-6868. Author weblink DOI.
