Dandan Yu
DoC 1
My name is Dandan Yu and I am of Chinese nationality. I started my scientific carrier in the city of Nanjing, China where I studied Pharmacy. During my studies I developed a particular interest for Biomedical research. Therefore, during a semester there, I participated in the program ‘Relationship between structure and function of enzyme’ at the Nanjing Tech University in Nanjing, China. Furthermore, I had the chance to investigate the secondary metabolites of mangrove actinomycetes and their cytotoxic activity at the Guangdong Medical University in Zhanjiang, China. Thereafter, I started my Master thesis at Shandong Laboratory of Yantai Drug Discovery in Yantai, China. In the lab of Prof. Yue-wei Guo, I investigated the mechanism of anti-non-small lung cancer of two marine natural products.
During my PhD I will produce and characterize the glycopeptides of archaea, gain insight into the biosynthesis of glycans by analyzing their genomes to evaluate which genes are potentially involved, the structure-to-function relationship of the most promising genes will be determined.
Starting date: 1 November 2024
My name is Natalia Dorota Lagan, and I am of Austrian nationality. I started my scientific career in Vienna, Austria, where I studied Food Science and Biotechnology at BOKU University. Towards the end of my Bachelor’s studies, I developed a strong interest for enzyme research as well as programming which led me to my Master’s studies in Biotechnology, focusing on protein engineering and bioinformatics. During my studies I undertook two internships. The first one was in computational biophysics of enzymes at BOKU University, where I was able to familiarize with the concept of Molecular Dynamics and computational protein biophysics, particularly of Cytochrome P450 enzymes. Before starting my PhD, I was selected to participate in the four-week Toruń Students Summer Program at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Poland, where I broadened my knowledge in statistics, programming and structural computational biology by extending the source code of the ProDy python package under the supervision of Prof. Karolina Mikulska-Rumińska. In the final year of my studies, I completed my thesis in the lab of Prof. Chris Oostenbrink at the Institute of Molecular Modeling and Simulation at BOKU University under the main supervision of Dražen Petrov. My research focused on investigating the structural diversity of plant Cytochrome P450 enzymes. I compared their sequential classification with a structural comparison approach and aimed to establish a new classification scheme based on structural phylogeny. During my PhD at the Danish Technical University (DTU) I will focus on studying the N-glycosylation system(s) of Archaea by screening their genomes for glycosylation-related genes and establishing their similarities, analogies, and differences with the much better-known glycosylation pathways of bacteria and higher eukaryotes. This is of high significance as many components involved in these pathways are poorly known in Archaea. The screening will begin with already sequenced genes stored and classified in the CAZy database (www.cazy.org). Simultaneously, I will try to confirm and extend the classification into subfamilies of these genes, mainly focusing on Glycosyltransferases (GTs). The broader goal of this project is to attempt to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the glycosylation pathways across all kingdoms of life using a combination of state-of-the-art bioinformatics and phylogenetic methods.
Starting date: 15 November 2024
Natalia Dorota Lagan
DoC 2
Alberto Bobbio
DoC 3
My name is Alberto Bobbio and I am from Italy. I started my scientific carrier in the city of Alessandria, Italy where I studied Biological Sciences at the University of Piemonte Orientale Amedeo Avogadro. During my studies I developed a particular interest for microbial biochemical pathways and ecological research. Therefore, I moved to Naples to follow a Master degree in Biology of Extreme Environments at the University of Naples Federico II. In the frame of the master, I carried on my thesis as intern at the National Research Council under the supervision of Dr. Beatrice Cobucci Ponzano and Prof. Marco Moracci where I earned knowledge about expression and characterization of extremophilic enzymes. The thesis project focused on Translational recoding in Archaea. In particular, I studied the regulation through -1 frameshifting of a gene that encode for an alpha-L-Fucosidase from Sulfolobus solfataricus. During my master degree I had the opportunity to participate in the Erasmus+ traineeship program where I worked in the lab of Prof. Bettina Siebers at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Thanks to this I had the opportunity to gain a deeper knowledge about molecular biology of the archaeal model organism Sulfolobus acidocaldarius.
Moreover, in November 2024, I started a journey as PhD student in the MSCA project “Glyco-N” at the University of Duisburg-Essen under the supervision of Prof. Bettina Siebers. Here I will work on the crenarchaeal model organism Sulfolobus acidocaldarius to express and study new glycosyltransferases in order to unravel their potential for biotechnological application and to shed light on the N-glycosilation pathways in Archaea.
Starting date: 1 November 2024
My name is Alejandra Travecedo, and I was born in Venezuela, holding Portuguese nationality. My journey into glycobiology began during my undergraduate studies in Biochemistry at NOVA-FCT in Lisbon, Portugal. It was here that I first became fascinated by the critical role of glycan-protein interactions and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). This interest led me to join the BioNMR Lab at NOVA-FCT under the guidance of Dr. Filipa Marcelo, where I conducted my Bachelor’s thesis. My research focused on investigating glycan-protein interactions under crowding conditions using NMR. To further expand my knowledge, I attended a one-month summer school at UCIBIO, which provided me with valuable insights into the field. Motivated to continue my academic path, I enrolled in the Master’s program in Biochemistry for Health at NOVA-FCT/ITQB NOVA/Nova Medical School. My Master’s thesis, also conducted at the BioNMR Lab, explored the molecular recognition of monovalent and trivalent glycomimetics by two immune lectins: human macrophage galactose C-type lectin (MGL) and Sialic acid-binding Immunoglobulin-like Lectin 7 (Siglec-7). After completing my Master degree, I continued working on this project through a one-year research scholarship.
Recently, I relocated to Spain to pursue my PhD at CICbioGUNE, where I am working in the Chemical Glycobiology Lab under the supervision of Jesús Jiménez-Barbero and Ana Gimeno. My research focuses on investigating the specific epitopes and molecular recognition features of at least two of the key glycosyl transferases of selected viral N-glycosylated proteins (which will be identified by UNINA within the scope of GLYCO-N) with a combination of NMR and X-ray methods, assisted by biophysical techniques (BLI, ITC), and molecular modelling protocols (docking and molecular dynamics).
Starting date: 1 October 2024
Alejandra Travecedo
DoC 4
Heather Gildie
DoC 5
Hello! I am Heather, and I am from Glasgow, Scotland. I began my PhD at Leiden University in July 2024 under the supervision of Marta Artola and Hermen Overkleeft. Within the Glyco-N network, my research focuses on the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of compounds that target N-glycan processing enzymes for use as antiviral agents. Additionally, my secondment will be hosted by Carme Rovira at the University of Barcelona, and I am looking forward to exploring the wonders of computational chemistry for enzyme-ligand interactions with this group.
In 2019, I moved to the University of St Andrews on the (very beautiful) northeast coast of Scotland, where I studied and completed my Integrated Master’s program in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry and External Placement. During the penultimate year of my degree, I ventured off to Stockholm, Sweden, where I completed a year as a placement student in the Helleday Group at the Karolinska Institute, under the supervision of Maurice Michel. There, I honed my organic synthesis skills in a medicinal chemistry setting, conducting numerous parallel reactions to produce a vast library of compounds and using biological data to guide subsequent modifications. It was during this year that I discovered my love for living abroad, conducting research as part of an international community, and embracing the exciting opportunities such experiences offer — all of which eventually led me to Leiden!
My name is Julia Van Bockstaele Fuentes and I am of Spanish-French nationality. I started my scientific career at the Université de Montpellier, France, where I pursued a BSc degree in Microbiology. Although I was selected to complete the final year of my bachelor’s degree in Sweden as part of the Erasmus program, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented me from accepting the mobility scholarship. Instead, I secured a short internship at the Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier under the supervision of Dr. Abdel Aouecheria and Dr. Sophie Charrasse. During this time, I assessed the cellular status by analyzing mitochondrial network morphology using fluorescence microscopy. During my undergraduate studies, I developed a strong interest in genetics and cellular biology, as well as a clear goal of pursuing a career as an academic researcher. This passion, combined with my enthusiasm for international collaboration, led me to pursue an MSc in Genetics at Université de Paris Cité, France, which offered a 5-month internship abroad in the first year of the program. As part of this program, I joined the lab of Prof. Adèle Marston at the Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology in Edinburgh, UK. There, I investigated the meiotic function of Spo13-interacting proteins in budding yeast under the supervision of Dr. Lori Koch. While completing my MSc in Genetics, I discovered an interest in Bioinformatics, which inspired me to pursue a second Master’s degree in this field at the Universitat de València, Spain. For my Master’s thesis, I worked under the supervision of Dr. Wladimiro Diaz, Dr. Susana Ruiz and Prof. Andrés Moya at Fundación FISABIO. My research focused on understanding the role and relevance of the intestinal microbiota in schizophrenia using a murine model. I will carry out my PhD project in the GlycoMEV lab at the Université de Rouen Normandie, France, as part of the Glyco-N project. This opportunity to continue my academic journey represents an excellent chance to deepen my expertise in glycobiology and bioinformatics, while advancing toward my ultimate goal of becoming an academic researcher through an interdisciplinary and international collaboration project.
During my PhD I will investigate the xylosylation of N-glycoproteins in microalgae. This project will focus on the microalgae Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, two species that are phylogenetically distant, providing a broader perspective on this process in microalgae. Specifically, my project aims to characterise functional and biochemically the xylosyltransferase (XylT) of these organisms, as well as to study the evolution of XylT in microalgae and xylosylation evolution in the tree of life.
Starting date: 12 November 2024
Julia Van Bockstaele Fuentes
DoC 6
Samira Al Sadi
DoC 7
My name is Samira Al Sadi and I come from Italy. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology and a Master’s degree in Industrial and Molecular Biotechnology, both obtained at the University of Bologna (Italy), from 2018 to 2024. During my studies, I developed a particular interest for structural biology. Indeed, for my Master’s degree thesis, I carried out a 10-month structural bioinformatics research project at the Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS) Computational Biomedicine (IAS-5 / INM-9), Forschungzentrum Jülich (Germany) as a visiting student, for a total of 6 months. I then continued working on the project at the Laboratory of Bioinorganic Chemistry, University of Bologna, for the remaining 4 months. The project focused on atomistic molecular dynamics of the human oxytocin receptor (OTR) in complex with oxytocin (OT) and a Mg2+ ion. During my PhD I will focus on structural and biochemical characterisation of N-glycans and glycoprocessing enzymes in Archea and Microalgae using state-of-the-art multi-scale approaches based on docking, molecular dynamics (MD) and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM).
Starting date: 1 November 2024
Hello! My name is Eva Wan, and I am a British national of Chinese ethnicity. My passion for science stemmed from a love for Chemistry and Biology in sixth form, where I ultimately decided to pursue a Chemistry, Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Integrated Master’s degree at the University of York, UK. I was eager to develop my passion in an interdisciplinary project, and so I applied for a summer internship with Dr. Lianne Willems working on generating a set of dystroglycan-derived glycopeptides using a ‘click’-based synthesis route. I was successful in receiving my own funding for this internship, through scholarships from the University of York, UK, and winning a 2022 Summer Sponsorship with Teledyne ISCO. I thoroughly enjoyed my first exposure to academic research and decided to join the group again the following summer for another internship, which led into my Master’s project, where I worked on the design, synthesis and biochemical characterisation of ribitol-phosphate derived activity-based probes. Following graduation from my Integrated Master’s degree, I am now a PhD candidate and Marie Curie fellow at Leiden University, where my research will focus on setting up and developing advanced biochemical technologies such as NanoLuciferase and HaloTag-based reporter assays to develop new targeted degradation strategies for proteins involved in N-glycosylation processes in human cells and in giant viruses.
Starting date: 1 September 2024
Eva Wan
DoC 8
Lourriel S. Macale
DoC 9
I am Lourriel S. Macale, and I am of Filipino Nationality. I graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Biology major in Microbiology at the University of the Philippines Los Banos. I took my Master’s degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology minor in Biochemistry at the same university. During my graduate studies, I did my research during my internship at Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan under the Taiwan International Graduate Program. The internship was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Todd L. Lowary. My research focused on enzyme-coupled spectrophotometric assay and circular dichroism spectroscopy of wild type and mutant galactofuranosyltransferase II from M. tuberculosis. After completion of my degree, I continued doing research at Dr. Lowary’s lab as a research assistant where I worked on several projects. In my recent research, I focused on the application of glycan microarray to evaluate the potentials of mycobacteriophage receptor binding proteins as promising tool for detection of mycobacterium species.
For my PhD Project (DC9) under the supervision of Prof. Cristina De Castro and Prof. Antonio Molinaro, I will be working on the mining chlorovirus PBCV-1 genome to decipher the N-glycosylation biosynthetic pathway. In this project, candidate proteins from chloroviruses will be cloned and purified, and the activity will be tested using functional assays to characterize the glycan products. Structural studies on the new chloroviruses will also be conducted to analyze conserved core regions.
Starting date: 1 November 2024
My name is Jesper Allaer, I am born and raised in Belgium. My scientific journey initiated in the city of Leuven, Belgium where I pursued my Bachelor of Chemistry at the KU Leuven. Already very early on did I develop a strong interest into organic chemistry and, shortly after, its applications into medicinal and biological studies. Upon commencing my master’s, I performed an internship at QMineral Analysis & Consulting where I reviewed and reoptimized a standard operating procedure of cationic exchange capacity analysis. Henceforth, I fulfilled my master thesis at the lab of Medicinal Chemistry at the Rega Institute under supervision of Prof. Verwilst where I designed non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors against HIV-1.
During my PhD I will design and synthesize chemical probes that target N-glycosylation in several organisms such as algae and archaea. The chemical probes would be based off natural products and small molecule inhibitors with known mechanisms in glycosylation pathways, with the purpose of designing novel chemical tools that can be applied across diverse systems and potentially create a deeper understanding of this essential cellular process as well as their associated pathways.
Starting date: 1 October 2024
Jesper Allaer
DoC 10
Saskia Pieters
DoC 11
My name is Saskia, and I am from the Netherlands. I started my studies with a BSc in Chemisty and Molecular Cell Biology at University College Utrecht. I then continued with my MSc in Chemical Biology at Leiden University, where I worked on developing biochemical assays to study PROTAC-mediated degradation of glycosyltransferases and glycosidases, supervised by Dr. Marta Artola.
I joined the Schumann lab at the Francis Crick Institute in London in 2024 as part of the GLYCO-N Marie Curie network. The Schumann lab works on developing novel chemical tools to probe the substrate specificities of glycosyltransferases, using “bump-and hole engineering”. In my project I will be applying the bump-and-hole approach, in which the active site of a glycosyltransferase is engineered with a “hole” to accommodate a chemically modified, “bumped” sugar analogue. Click chemistry then enables a fluorescent or enrichment tag to be attached to the sugar, allowing analysis by fluorescent detection or mass spectrometry. My research will focus specifically on understanding N-glycosylation in viruses and their hosts.
Starting date: 1 October 2024