Gulnahar B Mortuza

Macromolecules and their interactions underlie all biological processes and play either, dynamic roles in catalysis or signalling, or static roles in scaffolding. My interest has always been on such protein biomolecules and their complexes. My scientific career started at University of London, where my PhD focused on the structure and stability heam binding proteins, Cytochromes b5 and later cytochrome c using spectroscopic techniques such as NMR and EPR. This was followed by a posdoc position in GSK, London, investigating potential biomarkers and cationic amphiphilic drugs (Mortuza et al, 2003). I then moved back to basic research with a position at the MRC, NIMR London, to study the retroviral proteins, in particular crystallisation of capsid proteins to better understand the complex regulation of capsid assembly and disassembly. This was a very successful project providing new insights into retroviral uncoating and infection (Mortuza et al., Nature, 2004; Bishop et al., 2006; Yap et al., 2007, Mortuza et al., 2008). In 2008 I was awarded a Tenure track position, to study structural and functional basis of macromolecular complexes in the cell cycle machinery. The focus of my research since then has been to study centrosomal proteins that nucleate the mitotic spindle and the role of kinases that regulate the mitotic cell. I use hybrid approaches, ranging from molecular and structural studies to cell biology, with emphasis on X-ray crystallography and SAXS. My most recent endeavours on cell cycle and DNA binding proteins were challenging but rewarding, revealing new mechanistic insights on mitotic spindle formation (Mortuza et al., Nat Comm 2014,) and a clamp sliding mechanism during DNA replication (DeBasio et. al., Nat Comm 2014, Hoffmann et al JCB, 2016). My recent move to the the Nova Nordisk Foundation Centre for Protein research (NNF-CPR) means I bring in new skills and experiences to the study of mitotic cell, which has allowed me to set up new collaborations within NNF-CPR and University of Copenhagen.