Dr. Irina Häcker

Office: TIG / 2.42

Tel.: +49 641/99-35904

Irina.Haecker

Justus Liebig University Giessen

Institute for Insect Biotechnology

Department of Insect Biotechnology in Plant Protection

Winchester Str. 2

35394 Giessen

Curriculum Vitae

Career

Irina Häcker graduated in 2004 from the University of Bayreuth with a diploma degree in Biochemistry. For her Ph.D. she moved to the laboratory of Prof. Dr. Reinhard Lührmann at the Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (now MPI Multidisciplinary Sciences) in Göttingen where she applied biochemical and structural biology techniques to solve questions about the mechanism of pre-mRNA splicing. Her research was supported by scholarships of the „Verband der Chemischen Industrie“ and the Max-Planck Society. She then spent four years in the laboratory of Prof. Dr. Rolf Renne at the University of Florida, to study new cellular pathways regulated by the microRNAs of Kaposis sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). Moreover, she collaborated with the group of Prof. Dr. Michael Kladde to provide new insights into the epigenetic regulation of KSHV reactivation from latency. In 2013 Irina Häcker joined Prof. Schetelig’s group at JLU as a senior scientist, where she develops novel and sustainable methods for the control of mosquitoes.

Research projects

The research of Dr. Häcker focuses on two mosquito species, namely the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegyptiand the Asian tiger mosquito Ae. albopictus. While Ae. aegypti is a tropical species, Ae. albopictus is established in southern European countries and since 2015 also in several areas in southwest Germany, and is expected to spread further.

Aside from nuisance biting, a major concern with these mosquito species is the transmission of infectious diseases like Dengue, Chikungunya, or Zika Fever, all caused by viruses spread by the mosquitoes.

In Germany, in the upper rhine valley, the biological insecticide Bti is being successfully used against Ae. vexans and Culex mosquitoes since several decades. Bti can also be used in backyards and cemeteries, which offer plenty of breeding sites for Ae. albopictus in the form of flower pots, vases or watering cans. It requires the distribution of the chemical either manually (backyards, cemeteries) or by helicopters (rhine valley).

Another promising method is the sterile insect technique (SIT). The idea of SIT is the area-wide mass release of sterilized males, to produce infertile matings in the field and thus reduce population levels in a 100% species-specific way. The use of sterile males for population control offers the advantage of autodissemination, i.e. the released males would spread and search for the females in the field.

For mosquito SIT, the sex separation and removal of females before release of the sterile insects is an essential step. Even though co-released sterile females can’t reproduce, they still would be able to bite, thus contributing to nuisance biting and disease transmission. Therefore, one of the major goals is to develop ways to sex-separate mosquito species in large quantities. One way of achieving this is via genetic means. In this context, Dr. Häcker develops new mosquito strains for SIT that would allow large-scale sexing, for example by eliminating females early in embryonic development.

In the context of insect control the group also worked on RNA interference, with the goal to shut down essential genes to kill insects during development. Different application strategies of the double-stranded RNA and their effects on insect survival have been explored.

Publications

Häcker I, Rehling T, Schlosser H, Mayorga-Ch D, Heilig M, Yan Y, Armbruster PA, Schetelig MF (2023) Improved piggyBac transformation with capped transposase mRNA in Pest Insects. International Journal of Molecular Sciences; 24(20):15155.

Prates LHF, Merlau M, Rühl-Teichner J, Schetelig MF, Häcker I (2023) An Optimized/Scale Up-Ready Protocol for Extraction of Bacterially Produced dsRNA at Good Yield and Low Costs. International Journal of Molecular  Sciences; 25;24(11):9266.

Obermann W, Azri MFD, Konopka L, Schmidt N, Magari F, Sherman J, Silva LMR, Hermosilla C, Ludewig AH, Houhou H, Haeberlein S, Luo MY, Häcker I, Schetelig MF, Grevelding CG, Schroeder FC, Lau GSK, Taubert A, Rodriguez A, Heine A, Yeo TC, Grünweller A, Taroncher-Oldenburg G (2023) Broad anti-pathogen potential of DEAD box RNA helicase eIF4A-targeting rocaglates. Scientific Reports;13(1):9297. 

Ward CM*, Aumann RA*, Whitehead MA, Nikolouli K, Leveque G, Gouvi G, Fung E, Reiling SJ, Djambazian H, Hughes MA, Whiteford S, Caceres-Barrios C, Nguyen TNM, Choo A, Crisp P, Sim SB, Geib SM, Marec F, Häcker I, Ragoussis J, Darby AC, Bourtzis K, Baxter SW, Schetelig MF (2021) White pupae phenotype of tephritids is caused by parallel mutations of a MFS transporter. Nature Communications 12:491

Häcker I, Schetelig MF (2021) Genome editing and its applications for insect pest control: Curse or Blessing? In: Area-wide Integrated Pest Management: Development and Field Application. Hendrichs J, Pereira R, Vreysen MJB (eds.). pp 809-842. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA.

Häcker I, Bourtzis K, Schetelig MF (2021) Applying Modern Molecular Technologies in Support of the Sterile Insect Technique. In: Sterile Insect Technique. Principles and Practice in Area-Wide Integrated Pest Management. 2nd Edition. Dyck VA, Hendrichs J, Robinson AS (eds). pp 657-702. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA.

Häcker I, Koller R, Eichner G, Martin J, Liapi E, Rühl J, Rehling T, Schetelig MF (2020) Evaluation of hydrogen peroxide fumigation and heat treatment for standard emergency arthropod inactivation in BSL-3 insectaries. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology 8:602937.

Häcker I, Schetelig MF (2018). Molecular tools to create new strains for mosquito sexing and vector control. Parasites & Vectors 11 (Suppl 2):645
Aumann RA, Schetelig MF, Häcker I (2018). Highly efficient genome editing by homology-directed repair using Cas9 protein in Ceratitis capitata. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 101: 85-93.
Häcker I, Bourtzis K, Schetelig MF (2018). Applications of modern molecular technologies in support of the sterile insect technique. Sterile Insect Technique, 2nd Edition, Editors Arnold Dyck, Jorge Hendrichs, under review
Häcker I, Aumann R, Schetelig MF (2017). Vector control strategies for mosquitoes. Zeitschrift für Naturforschung C 72 (9-10): e11.
Häcker I, Harrell II RA, Eichner G, Pilitt KL, O’Brochta DA, Handler AM, Schetelig MF (2017). Cre/lox-Recombinase-Mediated Cassette Exchange for Reversible Site-Specific Genomic Targeting of the Disease Vector, Aedes aegypti. Scientific Reports, 7: 43883
Vaibhav Jain V, Plaisance-Bonstaff K, Sangani R, Lanier C, Dolce A, Hu J, Brulois K, Haecker I, Turner P, Renne R, Krueger B (2016). A Toolbox for Herpesvirus miRNA Research: Construction of a Complete Set of KSHV miRNA Deletion Mutants. Viruses 8 (2): 1–12.
Haecker I, Renne R (2014). HITS-CLIP and PAR-CLIP advance viral miRNA targetome analysis. Critical Reviews in Eukaryotic Gene Expression, 24 (2): 101–116.
Plaisance-Bonstaff K, Choi HS, Beals T, Krueger BJ, Boss IW, Gay LA, Haecker I, Hu J, Renne R (2014). KSHV miRNAs decrease expression of lytic genes in latently infected PEL and endothelial cells by targeting host transcription factors. Viruses 6 (10): 4005–4023.
Yang Y, Fear J, Hu J, Haecker I, Zhou L, Renne R, Bloom D, McIntyre LM (2014). Leveraging biological replicates to improve analysis in ChIP-seq experiments. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal 9 (13): 1–10.
Darst RP, Haecker I, Pardo CE, Renne R, Kladde MP (2013). Epigenetic diversity of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus. Nucleic Acids Research 41 (5): 2993–3009.
Zhu Y, Haecker I, Yang Y, Gao SJ, Renne R (2013). γ-Herpesvirus-encoded miRNAs and their roles in viral biology and pathogenesis. Current Opinion in Virology 3 (3): 266–275.
Haecker I, Gay LA, Yang Y, Hu J, Morse AM, McIntyre LM, Renne R (2012). Ago HITS-CLIP expands understanding of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus miRNA function in primary effusion lymphomas. PLoS Pathogens 8 (8) e1002884
Häcker I, Sander B, Golas MM, Wolf E, Karagöz E, Kastner B, Stark H, Fabrizio P, Lührmann R (2008). Localization of Prp8, Brr2, Snu1 14 and U4/U6 proteins in the yeast tri-snRNP by electron microscopy. Nature Structural and Molecular Biology 15 (11): 1206–1212.

Teaching

Dr. Häcker teaches the module BK-063 (N, A), a basic biology module for the Bachelor’s programs “Nachwachsende Rohstoffe und Bioressourcen” and “Agrarwissenschaften”

Moreover, she participates in the teaching of the following modules:

• BK-038: Agrarökologie und integrierter Pflanzenschutz
• MP-090-EN: Biotechnology for Pest Control
• MP-149-EN: Molecular Techniques