Dr Sebastian Guettler’s team is researching the ways in which certain enzymes, known as ADP-ribosyltransferases (ARTs), control cell function.
Professor Sebastian Guettler is Deputy Head of the Division of Structural Biology. He studies the precise molecular mechanisms of signalling processes central to cancer stem cell function, with a particular interest in ADP-ribosylation in signal transduction. His previous work on tankyrase, a poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase (PARP), helped to explain how the rare human disease cherubism is caused.
I graduated from the University of Manchester, with a BSc in Biochemistry with industrial experience (IE). I spent my IE at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, investigating mitochondrial dysfunction in disease. In 2020, I joined the ICR to study how tankyrase regulates Wnt/β-catenin signalling utilising genetic techniques.
I graduated with a BSc in Biochemistry from Imperial College London in 2020. As an undergraduate, I spent a year in the Pintacuda lab at the Very High Field NMR Center (CRMN) in Lyon, France, where I worked on the characterisation of membrane proteins by solid-state NMR. At the ICR, I am working on a collaborative project with Professor Ian Collins and Dr Sebastian Guettler to develop chemical probes to study telomere function.
Oviya studied Biotechnology during her undergraduate degree at SRM University, India. She then completed her PhD in Professor Sara Sandin's lab at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Oviya joined the ICR as a postdoc in 2019 and is currently studying the function of tankyrase at telomeres.
I completed my BSc (Hons) in Biology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, in 2015. I then moved to the Institut de Biologie Structurale in Grenoble, France, for my PhD, working in Dr Irina Gutsche’s group. During my PhD, I used cryo-EM and biochemistry to characterise the bacterial AAA+ ATPase RavA and the Mitochondrial Complex I Assembly Complex. I moved to the Guettler lab in 2020 to work on the cryo-EM characterisation of tankyrase.
For my undergraduate, I studied Molecular Biology & Genetics at the Istanbul Technical University, Turkey, followed by my M.Sc. in Molecular Biology, Genetics and Bioengineering at Sabanci University, Turkey. During my M.Sc. programme, I investigated the regulation of autophagy through microRNAs, and developed a nanoparticle-based, microRNA-functionalised gene therapy system to target breast cancer cells. At the ICR, I study the mechanisms of selective autophagy.
Katy joined the ICR in October 2023 as a PhD student. She previously completed an MChem at Durham University, where her research focused on novel therapeutics for Alzheimer's disease. At the ICR she is working on a collaborative project with Professor Guettler and Professor Hoelder, developing tankyrase-directed PROTACs as novel scaffolding inhibitors.
During my bachelor's degree at Erasmus University College, I completed a summer internship at Karolinska Institute in the field of cancer biology. I continued with my studies at Imperial College London in Molecular Basis of Human Disease. Here at the ICR, I am studying the molecular mechanisms of Wnt/beta-catenin signalling.
Mariola studied Biotechnology (BSc) at the University of Silesia in Poland and undertook her MSc in Analytical Bioscience at the University of Huddersfield. She then did her PhD in Dr Mark Pfuhl’s lab at King’s College London. Mariola joined Dr Guettler’s lab in July 2017.