Olaf Schneewind - Wikipedia - Recent changes [en]

Schneewind was born in Germany and attended the [[University of Cologne]]. He completed postdoctoral training with [[Vincent Fischetti]] at [[Rockefeller University]].<ref name="UChicago"/> Schneewind subsequently joined the faculty of the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] in 1992.<ref name="NAS"/> His first major discovery as an independent investigator was the finding that the surface proteins of gram-positive bacteria are cleaved between the [[Threonine|T]] and [[Glycine|G]] residue in the LPXTG [[protein targeting|sortase signal]] by the enzyme [[sortase]] (the enzyme was not discovered yet, but was later shown by him to be responsible for the cleavage) in order to be anchored to the cell wall.<ref name="pmid7830549">{{cite journal| author=Navarre WW, Schneewind O| title=Proteolytic cleavage and cell wall anchoring at the LPXTG motif of surface proteins in gram-positive bacteria. | journal=Mol Microbiol | year= 1994 | volume= 14 | issue= 1 | pages= 115–21 | pmid=7830549 | doi=10.1111/j.1365-2958.1994.tb01271.x | s2cid=9501258 }}</ref>

Schneewind was born in Germany and attended the [[University of Cologne]]. He completed postdoctoral training with [[Vincent Fischetti]] at [[Rockefeller University]].<ref name="UChicago"/> Schneewind subsequently joined the faculty of the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] in 1992.<ref name="NAS"/> His first major discovery as an independent investigator was the finding that the surface proteins of gram-positive bacteria are cleaved between the [[Threonine|T]] and [[Glycine|G]] residue in the LPXTG [[protein targeting|sortase signal]] by the enzyme [[sortase]] (the enzyme was not discovered yet, but was later shown by him to be responsible for the cleavage) in order to be anchored to the cell wall.<ref name="pmid7830549">{{cite journal| author=Navarre WW, Schneewind O| title=Proteolytic cleavage and cell wall anchoring at the LPXTG motif of surface proteins in gram-positive bacteria. | journal=Mol Microbiol | year= 1994 | volume= 14 | issue= 1 | pages= 115–21 | pmid=7830549 | doi=10.1111/j.1365-2958.1994.tb01271.x | s2cid=9501258 }}</ref>

In 2001, Schneewind began teaching at the [[University of Chicago]] within the Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology. In 2004, he was named the founding chair of the Department of Microbiology. He assumed the Louis Block Professorship and remained at UChicago until his death from cancer on May 26, 2019.<ref name="UChicago"/>

In 2001, Schneewind began teaching at the [[University of Chicago]] within the Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology. In 2004, he was named the founding chair of the Department of Microbiology. He assumed the Louis Block Professorship and remained at UChicago until his death from cancer on May 26, 2019.<ref name="UChicago"/><ref name="Silhavy">{{cite journal | last=Silhavy | first=Thomas J. | title=Olaf Schneewind, 1961–2019: Scientist, Mentor, Friend | journal=Journal of Bacteriology | publisher=American Society for Microbiology | volume=201 | issue=19 | year=2019 | issn=0021-9193 | doi=10.1128/jb.00422-19 | doi-access=free | url=https://jb.asm.org/content/jb/201/19/e00422-19.full.pdf | access-date=18 July 2025 | page=}}</ref>

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