People

Katarzyna (Kasia) Tych - Principal Investigator

I studied electronic engineering at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, completing my PhD in the same department in 2011. During my PhD, I developed methods to enable the use of terahertz time-domain spectroscopy for measurements of high frequency vibrational modes in proteins. During my postdoctoral position, working with Prof. Lorna Dougan and Dr. David Brockwell, I developed a passion for single molecule protein biophysics through my studies of proteins from extremophilic organisms using atomic force microscopy (AFM). I went on to receive a prestigious cross-disciplinary fellowship from the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) to study the heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) chaperone system using optical tweezers in the laboratory of Prof. Matthias Rief at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. In 2020 I obtained a Rosalind Franklin Fellowship and tenure-track assistant professorship in single molecule biochemistry at the University of Groningen. In 2021, I was awarded a Maria Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship (MSCA-IF) from the European Research Council to extend my lab’s research activities into new directions including microfluidics, membrane biophysics and electrophysiology.

I am involved in various activities at the University of Groningen including being a board member of the Women In Science and Engineering (WISE) group, being on the steering committee for the Rosalind Franklin Fellows and being an active member of the Young Science and Engineering (YSEN) group.

My research involves single molecule characterisation of biological macromolecules using force spectroscopy by optical tweezers combined with fluorescence. Alongside structural work and biochemical studies, I use single molecule techniques to gain an in-depth understanding of structure-function-dynamics relationships in proteins.

Beyond the lab, I'm predominantly interested in: being outside, climbing and bouldering, eating and cooking, reading and writing, playing and listening to music and travelling. All of the above in good company.

Kaori Nakao - PhD Researcher

I studied pharmaceutical science at Osaka University, Japan and got a master’s degree in the area of structural biology in 2020. My research interests involve molecular level of activities and conformational changes of enzymatic proteins. Here, I work on my PhD with single molecule optical tweezers. I’m so grateful for this opportunity.

Being outside, coffee, and books are my favourite.

Edo Vreeker - PhD Researcher jointly with the group of Giovanni Maglia

As a BSc student I studied Molecular Science & Technology at the University of Leiden and Delft University of Technology. Here I developed an early interest in soft matter. For my Bachelor’s thesis I joined the Supramolecular & Biomaterials Chemistry group of Prof. Alexander Kros to investigate membrane fusion between vesicles driven by peptides.

After completing my BSc, I attended the University of Amsterdam and Free University of Amsterdam to study a Master’s degree in Chemistry. My Master enabled me to explore the exciting research areas in physical chemistry, soft matter and biological physics. For my Master’s research project I joined the Biological and Soft Systems group at the University of Cambridge. Supervised by Prof. Pietro Cicuta and Dr. Lorenzo di Michele, I developed a new experimental method using optical tweezers and a microcapillary aspiration technique to study colloidal interactions and dynamics on lipid membranes driven by synthetic DNA linkers.

After completing my Master’s I was determined to follow my passion, so I started to look for an experimental PhD project where I could work on fundamental research in soft matter and biological physics. My PhD project focuses on the single-molecule biophysics of biological nanopores. The project is established by Dr. Tych and Prof. Maglia and designed based on their combined expertise in force spectroscopy (by optical tweezers), fluorescence microscopy and nanopore single-molecule biophysics. We are very keen to investigate the physical properties of biological nanopores and how these can be harnessed for applications in e.g. single-molecule sensing and protein characterisation. My personal interests include watching a variety of sports, learning more about science, visiting Great Britain, listening to music and spending time in company with my friends.

Laura Silbermann - PhD Researcher

I studied Biotechnology at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, Germany and completed my Master’s thesis at Roche in Penzberg in the fields of protein purification and characterisation in 2016. After having completed my studies, I worked in the pharmaceutical industry in Switzerland as a scientist in analytical development and quality control. During my 4 years of working experience in industry I have been mainly responsible for developing, optimising and validating analytical methods for biologics and project related activities.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to work on gaining in-depth understanding of structure-function-dynamics relationships in proteins using single molecules techniques during my PhD studies here.

In my free time I love spending time with family and friends, to be outside and go hiking, biking, skiing, jogging. Also, I like traveling and good food a lot.

Yulia Yancheva - PhD Researcher

I am from Bulgaria and I did my MPhys Physics degree in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester in the UK. My degree was mainly focused on experimental physics but I also learned a lot about computational methods. During my masters project I was working on simulating molecular dynamics and small angle neutron scattering of proteins. The aim of this project was to develop a combined method to study structure and dynamics of proteins using approaches from experimental and computational biophysics, using the GROMACS and SasView softwares.

Although my Masters project was on the boundary between experimental and computational biophysics, throughout my degree I developed interest in biophotonics and in general using light to study living matter.

In my PhD project, I am working on investigating the mechanisms of enzyme diffusion, in particular enhanced enzyme diffusivity. I am using optical tweezers to characterise enzymes and to quantify the conformational changes they undergo in the presence and absence of substrate. I will also be using mass photometry to look at how the diffusion coefficient of enzymes changes when substrate is present in solution. The advantage that both methods offer for the investigation of enzyme diffusivity is that they do not require fluorescent labelling.

In my time outside the lab, I enjoy climbing and bouldering, as well as hiking and just generally being outside. I also like visiting different galleries and museums and attending various types of cultural events.

Tycho Marinus - PhD Researcher

When I started a bachelor in computer science I was not expecting to end up as a biological experimentalist studying single molecules. However, my interest in biology slowly grew during my academic career. In my bachelor's I joined the honours college program of the University of Groningen, the highly interdisciplinary courses of this program slowly introduced me into the world of biology. An extremely inspiring project into DNA computing made me decide to pursue a masters in bioinformatics at the Technical University of Delft.

During my masters I did a brief internship at the Dutch Cancer Institute and graduated with a thesis in collaboration with the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp. In this MSc thesis “Analysing shifts in protein structure in relation to drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis”, I studied the relationship of antibiotic resistance in relation with changes in protein structure.

After graduation I briefly focussed on my work as a freelance software engineer. While I enjoyed the work when the opportunity came to transition further into experimental biology it did not require any convincing to jump into a PhD in the KT lab.

In my free time I try to do a lot of sport. While I am always open to try new sports, my main focus is on climbing, squash and beach volleyball. Besides sports, I am a large fan of board games of all sizes. 

Joanna Whittaker - HFSP Cross-Disciplinary Postdoctoral Fellow

Throughout my career in academia, I have honed my experience and knowledge in various fields of organic chemistry. Within my bachelor’s degree at the University of Warsaw (Poland), I performed microwave-assisted syntheses using microwave reactors adhering to green chemistry principles. During my master studies, I acquired in-depth practical experience in stereochemistry around enantioselective and organocatalytic reactions. I obtained three Erasmus+ scholarships allowing me to twice attend the University of Parma (Italy), where I synthesised various supramolecular assemblies. My third Erasmus scholarship was at Åbo Akademi University (Finland), where I synthesised biologically-active molecules. In 2020, I completed my PhD studies within the MSCA-ITN grant and MMBio network at the University of Padua (Italy). It allowed me to develop my skills in nanotechnology, organic, supramolecular and physical chemistry, as I was designing, synthesising and studying artificial enzymes (nanozymes) which could selectively cleave nucleic acids.

My first postdoctoral position at Aston University (UK) introduced me to important drug design components of medicinal chemistry with closely-linked academia-industry collaborations, as I designed and synthesised irreversible inhibitors of tissue transglutaminase (TG2). In 2021, I was employed as a Senior Scientist at a small pharmaceutical company TBCertain (the Netherlands), where I optimised the synthesis and up-scaling of complex mycolic acid homologues that can diagnose tuberculosis at an early stage.

I am now excited to begin working on a new frontier of science with Dr. Tych’s and Prof. Maglia’s groups as a HFSPO Postdoctoral Cross-Disciplinary Fellow. My project will be focused on studying the function of the proteasome using two complementary approaches: PROTAC technology and electrophysiological measurements.

It is almost impossible for me to be bored. I have various hobbies and ways of spending my spare time, starting with boxing, dancing, running and watching F1 with my husband, followed by cooking, knitting, learning new languages and playing board games with my family and friends. If I wasn’t a chemist, I’d be either the biggest rival of Gordon Ramsay leading the best Michelin Star restaurant in the world or I’d be the winner of the first edition of British Bake Off. No joke.