Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Passionate research scientist looking to bridge discovery and development with the goal of accelerating drug innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. - Molecular and structural biology expert. - Native English and French languages.
- PhD Thesis in the laboratory of Prof. Dr. Andreas Plückthun: “Investigation of Side-Chain-Specific Pocket Assemblies of Designed Armadillo Repeat Proteins for Modular Peptide Recognition”. - Secured a 50k UZH internal grant to carry out my research. - Selection of single (Leucine) and double (Isoleucine-Isoleucine, Tryptophan-Tryptophan, Tyrosine-Tyrosine) side-chain specific modules using Yeast Surface Display. Modules aimed at discriminating single amino acids based on their side chains. - Affinity measurements for the specificity characterisation of selected modules using fluorescence anisotropy. All 20 amino acids for single modules and over 50 different couples for double modules. - Crystallisation of various selected and assembled modules for structural analysis using X-ray diffraction. Over 30 crystal structures between 1.4 and 2.0 A resolution. All deposited in the PDB database. - Development of a new library and sorting strategies for the selection of side by side binding pockets. Made use of internal selection and development of a more robust peptide lock to improve selection accuracy and consistency.
Main missions as member of the senior comity and former president: - Help and advice to current president - Help and advice for the general management of the association - Support in project implementation - Active member of the association - Attending gatherings of former members
As well as being a teaching assistant in General Chemistry 1 and 2, I performed research on Tuberculosis Research advisor: Dr. Donald Ronning Overview: Characterization of three different enzymes, Rv0893, Rv1405 and Rv3030 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (strain H37Rv). They all belong in the S-Adenosyl-L-Methione (SAM) methyltransferases superfamily. Project: Structural characterization and in vitro study of a 6-O-methylglucose Lipopolysaccharide SAM-dependent methyltransferase essential for in vitro growth of H37Rv, Rv3030 - Molecular cloning, recombinant expression in E. coli and purification of the Rv3030 - Screening of libraries of compounds to find inhibitors against Rv3030 - Crystallization of Rv3030 and attempts at co-crystallizing with target compounds Project: Characterization of an unknown SAM-dependent methyltransferase essential for survival of mycobacterium tuberculosis in the host, Rv1405 - Molecular cloning, recombinant expression in E. coli and purification of the Rv1405 - Screening of libraries of compounds to find inhibitors against Rv1405 using a thermal shift assay - Optimization of competitive fluorescence polarization assay designed to measure in vitro enzymatic activity of SAM-dependent methyltransferases. Using Tris as a surrogate methyl acceptor as biological acceptor is unknown. - Determination of kinetic parameters of Rv1405 with Tris used as a surrogate methyl acceptor - Crystallization of Rv1405 and attempts at co-crystallizing with target compounds Project: Characterization of an unknown putative SAM-dependent methyltransferase, Rv0893 - Molecular cloning, recombinant expression in E. coli and purification of the Rv0893 - Screening of libraries of compounds to find inhibitors against Rv0893 using a thermal shift assay - Crystallization of Rv0893 and co-crystallization with S-Adenosyl-Homocysteine
Supervisor: Anne-Bernard Gokoglu Title: Creation, optimisation and validation of titration methods for various active ingredients by HPLC using a C18 column on the Agilent 1100 Instrument in the analytical chemistry laboratory of the « Plants & Actives » department Internship Objectives: - Writing a user manual for the new Agilent 1100 machine in the laboratory - Create new methods and adapt preexisting HPLC assay methods from the old system to the Agilent 1100 machine - Optimisation of created and adapted HPLC assay methods