Using cryo-EM to understand the biology & drug binding at Porcupine & 12-lipoxygenase.

Presenter: Dr Alisa Glukhova
CSL Centenary Fellow
Lab Head, Structural Biology Division
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
About Dr. Glukhova: Dr. Alisa Glukhova is a laboratory head in the Structural Biology Division at WEHI and a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology at the University of Melbourne. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemical Biology in 2014 from the University of Michigan, where she worked on solving structures of lipid-modifying enzymes using x-ray crystallography. During her postdoctoral training at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, she used x-ray crystallography, cryoelectron microscopy, and pharmacology techniques to study different G protein coupled receptors. Since joining WEHI in 2020, Alisa has focused on understanding the structural and biochemical aspects of the Wnt signalling pathway, an important pharmacological target for treating many cancers. Using structural biology, her team captures snapshots of different stages in the Wnt signalling cascade to understand the atomic picture and gain insights into various aspects of signal transmission through Wnt pathways. Key areas of interest include Wnt acylation by acyl-transferase Porcupine, Wnt secretion and transport outside cells, and the initiation of the Wnt signalling cascade through Wnt interactions with its receptors, Frizzled, and co-receptors. Alisa ultimately hopes to use this atomiclevel information to develop better therapies for devastating human conditions, such as cancer.
Chair: Bhavika Rana, CCeMMP PhD student, Monash University