A portrait of our newly minted IMCBio PhD researchers
This week we present the portraits of Dina, from Iran, and Shruthi, from India.
Dina – Angela Giangrande’s team & Nicolas Matt’s team, IGBMC & IBMC
After learning French in her first year in France, Dina earned a bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Strasbourg, followed by a master’s in Molecular Biology and Genetics.
She was also part of the IMCBio program which, she said, “played a pivotal role in shaping my scientific interest by providing access to excellent laboratories, seminars, and internships”.
Through IMCBio, Dina completed a first-year master’s internship at Purdue University in the United States, where she studied epigenetic mechanisms involved in Hepatitis B virus biosynthesis. This experience sparked a strong interest in epigenetics, leading her to a second-year master’s internship on chromatin dynamics during gliogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster in Dr. Angela Giangrande’s lab at IGBMC. Currently, Dina is pursuing a PhD in the same lab, under the supervision of Dr. Nicolas Matt and Dr. Giangrande, at both IBMC and IGBMC, focusing on epigenetic changes that drive immune adaptation.
“As an Iranian woman, she adds, this journey from Iran has not been without its challenges. However, studying in France has allowed me to find my path, thanks to its excellent university system and additional programs like IMCBio, which provide everything needed to begin a research career.”
Shruthi Khrishnaswamy – Bruno Klaholz’s team, IGBMC
Shruthi is from India. She has a background in Microbiology and masters degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from Uppsala University. She became interested in structural biology after taking a course at Uppsala university. She interned in various labs to gain experience and insight into the field and pursued her master thesis on unraveling the structural mechanism of tRNA-induced -1 ribosomal frameshifting. The study provided insights on an alternative mode of decoding in bacterial cells and the work is currently under publication.
In IGBMC, she will be working in the team of Dr. Bruno Klaholz to study structural analysis of chemical modifications in human ribosome cell lines. She will use Cryo-electron microscopy and other functional assays to determine structural impact of the differing modifications on ribosomes between normal and cancer cells.
This project would be important in showcasing how ribosomal heterogeneity can be exploited for therapeutic purposes in cancer treatment.
“IMCBio graduate school program has been myobvious choice for graduate studies, she says, as it offers access to state-of-the-art equipment for structural studies along with an interdisciplinary approach to solving scientific problems. Also, being associated with an eminent institution such as the University of Strasbourg, known for its strong research environment would be highly motivating.” Shruthi explains that she will benefit from the training offered through the doctoral school program and exposure to hands-on-training workshops. She believe that the collaborative environment and training from experts in structural biology would aid her journey as a researcher in the study of rudimentary mechanisms of molecular machines involved in RNA processing and protein synthesis.X
