June Ereño Orbea Email and Phone Number

Proteins are the actors of cellular processes, like enzymatic reactions, ion transport and molecular signalling. They carry out most of their functions by assembling into specific three-dimensional (3D) structures. Mutations or modifications in proteins can affect their structure and function, thus causing human diseases. We need to determine the structure of proteins by high-resolution techniques – such as x-ray crystallography and electron microscopy – to gain insights into how mutations impair function. Throughout my doctoral research at CICbioGUNE (Derio, Spain) I determined the structure of proteins that play essential roles in cellular processes and are involved in diseases such as homocistinuria and hypomagnesemia. As a post-doctoral fellow at Sickkids Hospital (Toronto, Canada), I biophysically characterized and determined the structure of B cell glycoproteins involved in maintaining the healthy homeostasis of the immune system, and those that are therapeutic targets when B cells become deregulated. Now, as a post-doctoral researcher at CICbioGUNE I am characterizing the interaction of immune cell receptors and glycans in order to better understand their function and regulation.