PhD-student
Yuqing Jia
Research:
My research interest is the development of chemical tools to study SENPs. SUMOylation is a reversible post-translational modification of target proteins by the SUMO-protein. It is orchestrated by SUMO-activating, -conjugating and -ligating enzymes in a sequential manner and is important in regulating a myriad of predominantly nuclear processes. DeSUMOylation is achieved by SUMO-specific proteases (SENPs). Deregulation of SUMOylation and deSUMOylation results in cellular dysfunction and is linked to various diseases, especially cancer. In recent years, SENPs have emerged as potential therapeutic targets. Thus, selective and potent chemical tools to modulate SENPs will be helpful in shedding light on their possible mechanisms in tumorigenesis, and in exploring new strategies for cancer therapy.
Curriculum Vitae:
I obtained my master degree at medicinal chemistry in Peking Union Medical College, Tsing Hua university in July 2018. During my master, my research topic was optimization of the structures of lipoprotein signal peptidase inhibitors and performing antibacterial activity tests. In September 2018, I joined the Ovaa group as a PhD student, working on profiling SENPs and oncogene PARK7. In fall 2020 I joined the group of Yimon Aye at EPFL (Lausanne) as post-doctoral fellow.
