About
Head: Dr. Koraljka Husnjak
Dynamic and reversible post-translational modifications by multifunctional protein ubiquitin regulate a variety of cellular processes including protein stability, DNA transcription and repair, endocytosis, cell cycle and division, apoptosis, autophagy, antigen processing, inflammation and immune response (1, 2). Research in Husnjak group is centred on the role of ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like proteins in protein degradation and regulation of proliferation, apoptosis and necroptosis. The group is especially interested in identifying novel players in linear ubiquitination, a type of atypical ubiquitination so far implicated in acquired and innate immunity, autoinflammation, lymphocyte development, genotoxic stress response and Parkinson´s disease, by utilizing multidisciplinary approaches ranging from biochemistry, molecular biology, cell culture, mass spectrometry, mouse models and collaboration-based structural studies.
Latest Research
The Author File: Koraljka Husnjak
References
1. Husnjak K, Dikic I. Ubiquitin-binding proteins: decoders of ubiquitin-mediated cellular functions. Annu Rev Biochem 2012; 81: 291-322.
2. Grabbe C, Husnjak K, Dikic I. The spatial and temporal organization of ubiquitin networks. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 2011; 12(5): 295-307.
Members
Lab Members
Dr. Koraljka Husnjak
Koraljka was born in Croatia, where she studied molecular biology at the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb. She received her Master of Science and PhD training at the Division of Molecular Medicine at the Rudjer Boskovic Institute headed by Kresimir Pavelic. Koraljka initially worked on oncogenic viruses and molecular mechanisms of cancer development. After joining the group of Ivan Dikic as a post-doctoral fellow, she shifted her focus on identification and characterization of novel ubiquitin- and ubiquitin-like binding domains by various approaches, including the work on proteasomal ubiquitin receptor Rpn13.
She started her independent career in 2010 as a group leader at the IBCII. Her group is interested in various aspects of ubiquitination. In particular, her laboratory aims to decipher the functional roles of various ubiquitin-binding proteins in protein degradation, signal transduction and immune response. Her most recent work relates to the role of linear ubiquitination and novel linear ubiquitin-binding domains in NFkappaB signaling and cell death.
Katarzyna Kliza
Katarzyna was born in Poland, where she studied biotechnology at the Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University. During her studies, Katarzyna worked under supervision of Jolanta Jura at the Cell Biochemistry Department, where she studied the function of MCPIP1 in NFkappaB and MAPK signaling pathways. During her Masters, she was awarded by Amgen Scholars Foundation to join the Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Disease Research headed by Christian Haass, where she investigated a novel substrate of the enzyme BACE1. As an Erasmus exchange student, Katarzyna studied the role of DNAJB7 in protein quality control, under the mentorship of Harm H. Kampinga. Driven by the interest in ubiquitin signaling, Katarzyna joined the group of Koraljka Husnjak as a PhD student, where she is studying novel linear polyubiquitin-modified substrates and linear ubiquitin-binding receptors.
