Our students at the Instruct Biennial Conference in Portugal
Two of our promising young students, Celeste Abreu and Yuri Dubanych, have recently attended the Instruct-ERIC Biennial Structural Biology Conference in Cascais, Lisbon. Held on 23–24 May 2024, the event brought together experts from across Europe to discuss the latest advancements in biomolecular research.
Celeste Abreu presented her research on “Isotope labelling of Siglec-7 in HEK293 cells: protein and protein:ligand complex characterisation at atomic levels by NMR spectroscopy”. Her work focused on the isotope labelling of Siglec-7, an immune receptor involved in cancer immunotherapy. She discovered that the extracellular domain of Siglec-7 forms a stable noncovalent dimer—an unreported phenomenon with potential implications for ligand binding and signal transduction. Her success in preparing isotopically labelled Siglec-7 enables further structural studies to deepen our understanding of this receptor.
Yuri Dubanych presented his study on “The insights into the interaction between Galectin-3 and the human natural killer cell activation receptor NKp30”. His research focused on the interaction between Galectin-3 and the NKp30 receptor, both crucial in regulating NK cell activity. By overcoming challenges such as the self-dimerisation of Galectin-3 and NKp30 glycosylation, he produced a cysteine-free version of Galectin-3 and identified a promising NKp30 glycosylation mutant for structural studies. His findings offer valuable insights into how Galectin-3 inhibits NK cell activity and could contribute to the development of new anti-cancer therapies.
Abreu C., Di Carluccio C., Ječmen T., Marchetti R., Silipo A., Vaněk O.: Isotope labelling of Siglec-7 in HEK293 cells: protein and protein:ligand complex characterisation at atomic levels by NMR spectroscopy. Instruct Biennial Structural Biology Conference, 22.-24. 5. 2024, Cascais, Lisbon, Portugal, s. 96.