Name and Surname of the Supervisor: Gintautas Tamulaitis
Institution (Company), Department: VU LSC IBT
Preliminary Topic Molecular mechanisms of CRISPR-Cas effectors activated by signaling molecules
Short Description of the Internship Work: CRISPR-Cas systems are adaptive immune systems that protect bacteria and archaea from invasive mobile genetic elements. While all CRISPR-Cas types use a crRNA-guided protein or protein complex to target and degrade foreign nucleic acids complementary to the guide molecule, type III CRISPR-Cas systems employ an additional layer of defense, a cyclic oligoadenylate-based signaling pathway to activate accessory effector proteins. Recent functional studies and bioinformatic analyses have revealed that signaling is widely used in prokaryotic antiviral defense and that different signal-activated effectors are abundant in bacteria and archaea. Research in the Tamulaitis group is dedicated to understanding different molecular mechanisms of signaling pathways and developing CRISPR diagnostic tools or signal switches for synthetic biology. During the internship, the student will characterize novel CRISPR effector proteins to understand their mechanism, which may contribute to the development of new molecular biology tools in the future.
Qualification Requirements (Degree): BSc, MSc
Application Deadline: 2024-12-31
Read more about the research of our group:
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adj2107
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao0100
https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaa634