Fredrik Trulsson

Research:

Small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) is a Ubiquitin-like post-translational modification essential to nearly all eukaryotic life. SUMOylation is involved in various cellular processes such as genome stability, transcription, stress response and progression through the cell cycle. The covalent, reversible conjugation of SUMO to lysines on target proteins can enable protein-protein interactions through a SUMO Interaction Motif (SIM). The conjugation of Ubiquitin to its target protein often marks it for degradation via the proteasome but can also alter their cellular location, affect their activity, and promote or prevent protein interactions.

We employ pulldown strategies to enable purification of ubiquitin and SUMO conjugates. With Mass Spectrometry, we can measure the changes in ubiquitylation and SUMOylation on a system wide scale, for instance after inhibitor treatments or cell stress. Further functional studies are carried out by mutational assays and recombinant protein expression.

Curriculum Vitae:

I obtained my biomedicine Bachelor and Master at Umeå University in Sweden. I investigated the replication of individual RNA segments in Hantavirus infected cells during my Bachelor at the Swedish Defence Research Agency. During my Master, I studied the involvement of caveolae (a small cave-like invagination of the plasma membrane) in membrane repair by microscopy and texture analysis techniques. In addition, I investigated the function of the short fiber knob (a capsid protein of the virus particle) of the human enteric adenoviruses 40 and 41.

After obtaining my master degree I worked as a project assistant at the Department of Radiation Sciences at Umeå University. We cultured orthotopically transplanted neoplastic organoids, which can recapitulate the full spectrum of tumour development. We used this model system to identify subpopulations of cancer-associated fibroblasts in pancreatic cancer.

In January 2018, I started my PhD in Alfred Vertegaal’s laboratory were I’m investigating SUMO and Ubiquitin systems biology by Mass Spectrometry.