Laura O’Byrne

Biography

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Turin. I furthered my studies at the University of Milan, where I graduated with a Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology in July 2023, achieving the highest honors. During the completion of my thesis, I had the opportunity to undertake a year-long internship at the CNR in Milan. Here, I was tasked with expressing various proteins, previously identified as potential pharmacological targets. Additionally, I performed molecular biology techniques such as mutagenesis and cloning and conducted biochemical assays to test inhibitory compounds of these proteins.

Research project objectives

The main key points of my project will be:

  • optimize expression of FUT6/FUT7/FUT8 and ST6GalNAcI/ST6GalI for purification using HEK293 cells
  • kinetic characterization and enzyme inhibition studies
  • determination of the Kds for the inhibitors using ITC, Octet
  • obtain crystal structures or cryo-EM structures with inhibitors

Universidad Zaragoza  (UNIZAR)

The host laboratory (BIFI–UNIZAR) has the usual and appropriate research facilities, infrastructure and equipment in order to carry out the expression, purification, biophysical characterization of proteins and the determination of crystal structures. We have all the required equipments to do molecular biology, express and purify proteins and obtain protein crystals. Furthermore, we do have several ITC apparatus, SPR (Biacore), UV and fluorescence spectrophotometers, circular dichroism, fluorometers, luminometers for 96 well plates proteins and our own X-ray diffractometer. Finally, we do have routine access to the synchrotrons ALBA and Diamond.

Selected papers (10): * indicates corresponding authorship

1.-) Lira-Navarrete E, et al., Rovira C*, Hurtado-Guerrero R*. (2014) Substrate-guided front-face reaction revealed by combined structural snapshots and metadynamics for the polypeptide GalNAc-T2. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 53(31):8206-10. (89 citations/9 yrs)

2.-) Lira-Navarrete E, et al., Hurtado-Guerrero R*. (2015) Dynamic interplay between catalytic and lectin domains of GalNAc-transferases modulates protein O-glycosylation. Nat Commun 6:6937. (92 citations/8 yrs)

3.-) Valero-González J, et al., Hurtado-Guerrero R*. (2016) A proactive role of water molecules in acceptor recognition by protein O-fucosyltransferase 2. Nat Chem Biol 12(4):240-6. (65 citations/7 yrs)

4.-) de Las Rivas M, et al., Hurtado-Guerrero R*. (2017) The interdomain flexible linker of the polypeptide GalNAc transferases dictates their long-range glycosylation preferences. Nat Commun 8(1):1959. (35 citations/6 yrs)

5.-) Park JB, et al., Hurtado-Guerrero R*, Angulo J*, Hardwidge PR, Shin JS*, Cho HS*. (2018) Structural basis for arginine glycosylation of host substrates by bacterial effector proteins. Nat Commun 9(1):4283. (52 citations/5 yrs)

6.-) Fang W, et al., Hurtado-Guerrero R, Arroyo J*, van Aalten DMF*. (2019) Mechanisms of redundancy and specificity of the Aspergillus fumigatus Crh transglycosylases. Nat Commun 10(1):1669. (21 citations/4 yrs)

7.-) García-García A, et al., Hurtado-Guerrero R*. (2020) Structural basis for substrate specificity and catalysis of α1,6-fucosyltransferase. Nat Commun 2020;11(1):973. (37 citations/3 yrs)

8.-) de Las Rivas M, et al., Hurtado-Guerrero R*. (2020) Molecular basis for fibroblast growth factor 23 O-glycosylation by GalNAc-T3. Nat Chem Biol 16(3):351-360. (42 citations/3 yrs)

9.-) González-Ramírez AM, et al., Marcelo F, Corzana F*, Hurtado-Guerrero R*. (2022) Structural basis for the synthesis of the core 1 structure by C1GalT1. Nat Commun 13(1):2398. (6 citations/1 yr)

10.-) Taleb V, et al., Rovira C*, Hurtado-Guerrero R*. (2022) Structural and mechanistic insights into the cleavage of clustered O-glycan patches-containing glycoproteins by mucinases of the human gut. Nat Commun 13(1):4324. (7 citations/1 yr)