Ruud Hovius
EPFL SB ISIC LCBM
CH B3 424 (Bâtiment CH)
Station 6
1015 Lausanne
+41 21 693 31 34
Office:
CH B3 424
EPFL › SB › ISIC › LCBM
Website: https://lcbm.epfl.ch/
EPFL › SB › SB-SCGC › SCGC-ENS
Website: https://www.epfl.ch/schools/sb/scgc/
Expertise
•Protein structure, expression & purification
•Molecular interaction & receptor activation
•Fluorescence imaging & spectroscopy
Signalling & sensing
Mission
=> Teaching: Lecture courses, tutorials and practicals in biochemistry, biophysical chemistry of membranes and signalling processes. Participating to the Commission d'Enseignement and Commission de l'Ecole Doctorale of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.
=> Research interests: Protein function and structure, Membrane protein (especially receptors and channels) expression, structure and function, biomolecular interaction, labeling with biophysical probes, fluorescence imaging and assay and sensor techniques, single molecule techniques.
BSc course EPFL : Practical BioChem & BioPhys
Practical introducing 6th Chemistry Bachelor students in genetic engineering, protein expression and purification, and biochemical and biophysical charaterisation of proteins.
BSc course Molecular and cellular biophysics II
.
Graduate course : ESONN - Grenoble
Module "Advanced biophysics for microsystems design" at the post-graduate European School on Nanosciences & Nanotechnologies (ESONN.fr) in Grenoble, organized by the IPNG, UJF, CNRS and CEA.
MSc course : Cellular signalling
Masters course on advanced concepts of various cellular signalling pathways and their interactions
MSc Course Chemical Biology
.
Selected publications
Reversible Sequential Binding Assays Probe Receptor Function in Single Cells
Schreiter, C.; M. Gjoni, R. Hovius, K. L. Martinez, J.-M. Segura, and H. Vogel.
Published in ChemBioChem (accepted) in
Lipid-coated Nanocrystals as Multi-functionalized Luminescent Scaffolds for Supramolecular Biological Assemblies.
Geissbuehler, I.; R. Hovius, K. L. Martinez, M. Adrian, K. R. Thampi and H. Vogel.
Published in Angew. Chem., 44,2005 in
Reversible site-selective labelling of proteins in live cells: The structure of the 5HT3 serotonin receptor.
Guignet, E. G.; R. Hovius and H. Vogel.
Published in Nature Biotechnology, 22, 2004 in
Highly fluorescent streptavidin-coated CdSe nanoparticles: Preparation in water, characterization, micropatterning
B�umle, M.; D. Stamou, J.-M. Segura, R. Hovius and H. Vogel
Published in Langmuir, 2004 in
Probing the function of G-protein coupled receptors in tethered cell membranes.
Martinez, K. L.; B. H. Meyer, R. Hovius, K. Lundstrom and H. Vogel
Published in Langmui, 19/26, 2003 in
Characterization of the ligand-binding site of the serotonin 5-HT3 receptor: The role of glutamate residues 97, 224, and 235
Schreiter, C.; R. Hovius, M. Costioli, H. Pick, S. Kellenberger, L. Schild, and H. Vogel
Published in J. Biol. Chem, 278, 2003 in
Factors influencing fluorescence correlation spectroscopy measurements on membranes: simulations and experiments
Milon S, Hovius R, Vogel H, Wohland T
Published in Chemical Physics, 288, Issues 2-3, 2003 in
Mapping the antagonist binding site of the serotonin type 3 receptor by fluorescence resonance energy transfer.
Vallotton, P; A.P. Tairi, T. Wohland, K. Friedrich-B�net, H. Pick, R. Hovius and H. Vogel
Published in Biochemistry, 40, 2001 in
Fluorescence techniques. Shedding light on ligand-receptor interactions.
Hovius, R.; P. Vallotton, T. Wohland and H. Vogel
Published in Trends Pharmacol Sci , 21, 2000 in
Study of ligand-receptor interactions by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy with different fluorophores: evidence that the homopentameric 5-hydroxytryptamine type 3As receptor binds only one ligand.
Wohland, T.; K. Friedrich, R. Hovius and H. Vogel
Published in Biochemistry, 38, 1999 in
Screening ligands for membrane protein receptors by total internal reflection fluorescence: the 5-HT3 serotonin receptor.
Schmid, E.L.; A.P. Tairi, R. Hovius and H. Vogel
Published in Anal Chem, 70, 1998 in
Ligand binding to the serotonin 5-HT3 receptor studied with a novel fluorescent ligand.
Tairi, A.P.; R. Hovius, H. Pick, H. Blasey, A. Bernard, A. Surprenant, K. Lundstr�m and H. Vogel,
Published in Biochemistry, 37, 1998 in
Metal ion trace detection by a chelator-modified gold electrode: A comparison of surface to bulk affinity.
Stora, T.; R. Hovius, Z. Dienes, M. Pachoud and H. Vogel,
Published in Langmuir, 13, 1997 in
Phospholipid asymmetry of the outer membrane of rat liver mitochondria. Evidence for the presence of cardiolipin on the outside of the outer membrane
Hovius, R.; J. Thijssen, P. van der Linden, K. Nicolay and B. de Kruijff,
Published in FEBS Lett, 330, 1993 in
Infoscience
The HP1 box of KAP1 organizes HP1α for silencing of endogenous retroviral elements in embryonic stem cells
Nature Communications. 2025. DOI : 10.1038/s41467-025-60279-2.BPS2025 - Optimization of acid-sensing ion channel1a properties for the use in implantable pH biosensors
Biophysical Journal. 2025. DOI : 10.1016/j.bpj.2024.11.2626.A covalently linked probe to monitor local membrane properties surrounding plasma membrane proteins
Journal of Cell Biology (JCB). 2022. DOI : 10.1083/jcb.202206119.International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology. CX. Classification of Receptors for 5-hydroxytryptamine; Pharmacology and Function
Pharmacological Reviews. 2021. DOI : 10.1124/pr.118.015552.Torsin ATPases influence chromatin interaction of the Torsin regulator LAP1
Elife. 2020. DOI : 10.7554/eLife.63614.Structural mechanism of cGAS inhibition by the nucleosome
Nature. 2020. DOI : 10.1038/s41586-020-2750-6.A Chemogenetic Approach for the Optical Monitoring of Voltage in Neurons
Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 2018. DOI : 10.1002/anie.201812967.Evaluating Cellular Drug Uptake with Fluorescent Sensor Proteins
ACS Sensors. 2017. DOI : 10.1021/acssensors.7b00331.Expression, Biochemistry, and Stabilization with Camel Antibodies of Membrane Proteins: Case Study of the Mouse 5-HT3 Receptor
Membrane Protein Structure and Function Characterization; New York, NY: Springer New York, 2017. p. 139 - 168.Reduction of Neuropathic and Inflammatory Pain through Inhibition of the Tetrahydrobiopterin Pathway
Neuron. 2015. DOI : 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.05.033.Microfluidic Single-Cell Analysis with Affinity Beads
Small. 2015. DOI : 10.1002/smll.201402650.Tetrahydrobiopterin Biosynthesis as a Potential Target of the Kynurenine Pathway Metabolite Xanthurenic Acid
Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2015. DOI : 10.1074/jbc.C115.680488.Insertion of Nanoparticle Clusters into Vesicle Bilayers
ACS Nano. 2014. DOI : 10.1021/nn406349z.Natural compounds boldine and menthol are antagonists of human 5-HT
Neurogastroenterology & Motility. 2014. DOI : 10.1111/nmo.12334.Sensory characterization of perfumery raw materials and perfumes: individual sensitivity, trigeminal components and attentional effect
2014Dithiol amino acids can structurally shape and enhance the ligand-binding properties of polypeptides
Nature Chemistry. 2014. DOI : 10.1038/nchem.2043.X-ray structure of the mouse serotonin 5-HT3 receptor
Nature. 2014. DOI : 10.1038/nature13552.A fluorogenic probe for SNAP-tagged plasma membrane proteins based on the solvatochromic molecule Nile Red
ACS Chemical Biology. 2014. DOI : 10.1021/cb400819c.Downscaling the Analysis of Complex Transmembrane Signaling Cascades to Closed Attoliter Volumes
PLoS ONE. 2013. DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0070929.Characterization and Validation of Fluorescent Receptor Ligands: A Case Study of the Ionotropic Serotonin Receptor
Methods in Molecular Biology Chemical Neurobiology. 2013. DOI : 10.1007/978-1-62703-345-9_12.Microfluidic single cell analysis with affinity beads
2013. 9th European-Biophysical-Societies-Association Congress. p. S114 - S114.Cell-derived plasma membrane vesicles as minimal cells for analyzing transmembrane signaling
56th Biophysical Society Meeting, San Diego, California, USA, February 25-29, 2012.Activation of G-Protein-Coupled Receptors in Cell-Derived Plasma Membranes Supported on Porous Beads
Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2011. DOI : 10.1021/ja205302g.Acetylcholine Receptor Organization in Membrane Domains in Muscle Cells: EVIDENCE FOR RAPSYN-INDEPENDENT AND RAPSYN-DEPENDENT MECHANISMS
Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2011. DOI : 10.1074/jbc.M110.139782.Correlated Optical and Electrical Single-Molecule Measurements Reveal Conformational Diffusion from Ligand Binding to Channel Gating in the Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor
ChemBioChem. 2011. DOI : 10.1002/cbic.201100302.Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy to Study Plasma Membrane Protein Dynamics
Lausanne, EPFL, 2010. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-4869.Serotonin receptor diversity in the human colon: Expression of serotonin type 3 receptor subunits 5-HT3C, 5-HT3D, and 5-HT3E
The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 2010. DOI : 10.1002/cne.22525.Fluorescent Epibatidine Agonists for Neuronal and Muscle-Type Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors
Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 2007. DOI : 10.1002/anie.200604807.New conjugate of agonist ligand directed to ligand-gated ion channels of cysteine loop-family with chromophore, useful, e.g. in receptor proteins/their interaction with agonistic ligand and to study the effect of unlabelled ligands
WO2007057428 . 2007.Modulation of proton-induced current fluctuations in the human nicotinic acetylcholine receptor channel
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. 2007. DOI : 10.1016/j.bbamem.2006.07.015.Repetitive Reversible Labeling of Proteins at Polyhistidine Sequences for Single-Molecule Imaging in Live Cells
ChemPhysChem. 2007. DOI : 10.1002/cphc.200700065.Determining a receptor-ligand interaction useful in e.g. drug screening involves repetitive application of reversibly binding fluorescent ligands with fast association-dissociation kinetics
WO2006105985 . 2006.Functional asymmetry of transmembrane segments in nicotinic acetylcholine receptors
European biophysics journal : EBJ. 2006. DOI : 10.1007/s00249-006-0078-2.Covalent labeling of cell-surface proteins for in-vivo FRET studies
FEBS Letters. 2006. DOI : 10.1016/j.febslet.2006.02.007.Fluorescent Labelling of Membrane Proteins in Living Cells
Structural Genomics on Membrane Pro; CRC Press - Francis & Taylor/St Lucie Pr, 2006. p. 199 - 210.FRET imaging reveals that functional neurokinin-1 receptors are monomeric and reside in membrane microdomains of live cells
Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America (PNAS). 2006. DOI : 10.1073/pnas.0507686103.Synthesis of nanoscopic optical fibers using lipid membranes as templates
Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 2005. DOI : 10.1002/anie.200500386.Lipid-coated nanocrystals as multifunctionalized luminescent scaffolds for supramolecular biological assemblies
Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 2005. DOI : 10.1002/anie.200461491.Reversible sequential-binding probe receptor-ligand interactions in single cells
ChemBioChem. 2005. DOI : 10.1002/cbic.200500216.Investigating cellular signaling reactions in single attoliter vesicles
Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2005. DOI : 10.1021/ja044605x.Reversible site-selective labeling of membrane proteins in live cells
Nature Biotechnology. 2004. DOI : 10.1038/nbt954.Highly Fluorescent Streptavidin-Coated CdSe Nanoparticles: Preparation in Water, Characterization, and Micropatterning
Langmuir. 2004. DOI : 10.1021/la0363940.Characterization of the Ligand-binding Site of the Serotonin 5-HT3 Receptor: The Role of Glutamate Residues 97, 224,and 235
Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2003. DOI : 10.1074/jbc.M301801200.Ligand Binding to G Protein-Coupled Receptors in Tethered Cell Membranes
Langmuir. 2003. DOI : 10.1021/la035354t.Factors influencing fluorescence correlation spectroscopy measurements on membranes: simulations and experiments
Chemical Physics. 2003. DOI : 10.1016/S0301-0104(03)00018-1.Downscaling Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy to the Micrometer and Nanogram Scale: Secondary Structure of Serotonin and Acetylcholine Receptors
Biochemistry. 2003. DOI : 10.1021/bi035113k.Monitoring expression and clustering of the ionotropic 5HT3 receptor in plasma membranes of live biological cells
Biochemistry. 2003. DOI : 10.1021/bi026576d.Mapping the Antagonist Binding Site of the Serotonin Type 3 Receptor by Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer
Biochemistry. 2001. DOI : 10.1021/bi0106989.In vitro and in vivo ligand binding to the 5HT3 serotonin receptor characterised by time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy
ChemBioChem. 2001. DOI : 10.1002/1439-7633(20010302)2:3<205::AID-CBIC205>3.0.CO;2-J.Characterization of a transmembrane receptor protein by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy
2001. p. PHYS - 339.Large scale transient 5-HT3 receptor production with the Semliki Forest Virus Expression System
Cytotechnology. 2000. DOI : 10.1023/A:1008192709549.Functional immobilisation of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in tethered lipid membranes
Biophysical chemistry. 2000. DOI : 10.1016/S0301-4622(00)00114-9.Fluorescence techniques: shedding light on ligand-receptor interactions
Trends in pharmacological sciences. 2000.Transient-expression technologies, their application and scale-up: 5-HT3 serotonin receptor case study
2000. Colloquium on Expression and Purification of Membrane Proteins, Keele, UK, JULy 20-22, 1999. p. 956 - 960. DOI : 10.1042/bst0270956.Fluorescence techniques for fundamental and applied studies of membrane protein receptors: the 5-HT3 serotonin receptor
Journal of Receptor and Signal Transduction Research. 1999. DOI : 10.3109/10799899909036670.Study of ligand-receptor interactions by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy with different fluorophores: Evidence that the homopentameric 5-hydroxytryptamine type 3(As) receptor binds only one ligand
Biochemistry. 1999. DOI : 10.1021/bi990366s.Waveguide fluorosensor for the detection of ligand-receptor interactions - The 5-HT3 serotonin receptor
1999. 43rd OHOLO Conference on Novel Applroaches in Biosensors and Rapid Diagnostic Assays, Elat, Isareal, 1999. p. 135 - 145. DOI : 10.1007/978-1-4615-1231-8_10.Characterization of a mouse serotonin 5-HT3 receptor purified from mammalian cells
Journal of Neurochemistry (JNC). 1998. DOI : 10.1046/j.1471-4159.1998.70020824.x.Screening Ligands for Membrane Protein Receptors by Total Internal Reflectance Fluorescence: The 5-HT3 Serotonin Receptor
Analytical Chemistry. 1998. DOI : 10.1021/ac9712658.Ligand binding to the serotonin 5HT3 receptor studied with a novel fluorescent ligand
Biochemistry. 1998. DOI : 10.1021/bi981812z.Expression of ligand-gated ion channels with the Semliki Forest virus expression system
Journal of Receptor and Signal Transduction Research. 1997. DOI : 10.3109/10799899709036597.The Semliki Forest virus system: receptor expression and scale-up
Genetic Engineer and Biotechnologist. 1997.Metal ion trace detection by a chelator-modified gold electrode: A comparison of surface to bulk affinity
Langmuir. 1997. DOI : 10.1021/la970504j.Phospholipid asymmetry of the outer membrane of rat liver mitochondria: Evidence for the presence of cardiolipin on the outside of the outer membrane
FEBS letters. 1993. DOI : 10.1016/0014-5793(93)80922-H.On the mechanism of the mitochondrial decarboxylation of phosphatidylserine
Journal of Biological Chemistry. 1992. DOI : 10.1016/S0021-9258(18)41851-0.Interaction of mitochondrial creatine kinase with model membranes: A monolayer study
FEBS letters. 1991. DOI : 10.1016/0014-5793(91)80374-C.Mitochondrial creatine kinase mediates contact formation between mitochondrial membranes
Journal of Biological Chemistry. 1991. DOI : 10.1016/S0021-9258(18)54921-8.The phosphatidylcholine-transfer protein catalyzed import of phosphatidylcholine into isolated rat liver mitochondria
Biochimica et biophysica acta. 1990. DOI : 10.1016/0005-2736(90)90189-U.The role of contact sites between inner and outer mitochondrial membrane in energy transfer
Biochimica et biophysica acta. 1990. DOI : 10.1016/0005-2728(90)90255-3.Improved methods to isolate and subfractionate rat liver mitochondria. Lipid composition of the inner and outer membrane.
Biochimica et biophysica acta. 1990. DOI : 10.1016/0005-2736(90)90036-N.Differential interactions of apo- and holocytochrome c with acidic membrane lipids in model systems and the implications for their import into mitochondria
Journal of Biological Chemistry. 1989. DOI : 10.1016/S0021-9258(19)84950-5.Research
Patents
New conjugate of agonist ligand directed to ligand-gated ion channels of cysteine loop-family with chromophore, useful, e.g. in receptor proteins/their interaction with agonistic ligand and to study the effect of unlabelled ligands.
J. Grandl, R. Hovius, H. Vogel, D. Bertrand, E. Sakr, F. Kotzyba-Hibert and M. Goeldner.
Patent number: WO2007057428-A1
Publication date: 2007
Determining a receptor-ligand interaction useful in e.g. drug screening involves repetitive application of reversibly binding fluorescent ligands with fast association-dissociation kinetics .
C. Schreiter, J.-M. Segura, H. Vogel, R. Hovius, K. Martinez and M. Gjoni Boillat.
Patent number: WO2006105985-A1
Publication date: 2006
Current interests
Structure and function DNA-protein macromolecular complexes
Real-time monitoring of structural dynamics and molecular interactions
Single molecule techniques & cellular signalling
Teaching & PhD
Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector
Courses
Experimental biochemistry and biophysics
CH-319
A 7-week long (4+8 h) experiment where you plan and construct a fluorescent sensor protein starting from DNA bricks. The protein will be expressed in and purified from E.coli, characterized by biochemical and spectroscopic methods. Your report will be in the style of a scientific paper or poster
ESONN
Graduate course : ESONN - Grenoble
Module "Advanced biophysics for microsystems design" at the post-graduate European School on Nanosciences & Nanotechnologies (ESONN.fr) in Grenoble, organized by the IPNG, UJF, CNRS and CEA.