Thesis supervisor: Rita Pancsa
co-supervisor: Ágnes Tantos
Location of studies (in Hungarian): Institute of Enzymology, Research Center for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA TTK) Abbreviation of location of studies: MTA
Description of the research topic:
Cancers often involve the fusion of chromosomes, generating protein chimeras that are made up of parts of unrelated proteins. Point mutations leading to aberrant splicing patterns represent another hallmark of cancer tissues. The molecular mechanisms through which the resulting chimeras and perturbed proteins promote oncogenic transformation is largely unknown, however, their structural features imply that they might engage in aberrant protein-protein interactions, such as dimerization, aggregation or liquid-liquid phase separation. The goal of this project is to produce the fusion products of the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) and some other cancer-associated protein variants, to characterize their aberrant protein-protein interactions in detail and to point to possible ways of interfering with their activity via inhibiting these interactions.
Required language skills: English Further requirements: MSc or equivalent degree in biology, biochemistry, bioengineering, biophysics or medical sciences