Our Master Student, Magdalena Kaczmarczyk, successfully defended her Master Thesis last week at the Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Biotechnology. Thanks to Magdalena’s excellent work, her thesis titled “Generation of molecular tools for the study of molecular switch between thiolation and urmylation in the Urm1-Ncs6 tRNA modification pathway” was awarded a distinction!

As the title suggests, the aim of her work was to create molecular tools for the study of the switch between Urm1 thiolation and urmylation.

Urm1 is a Ubiquitin-like protein involved in two pathways–tRNA thiolation and protein urmylation. Molecular regulators which direct Urm1 to either one of the processes are yet unknown. Generating the biochemical tools to study and understand the molecular switch between thiolation and urmylation will promote a more thorough understanding of the underlying mechanisms of these reactions and the reasons for occurring abnormalities in many human pathologies and diseases.

Once again congrats Magdalena and good luck on your future adventures! 

Written by Gosia Honc.