MEET THE LAB
NICOLAS THOMÄ
Group Leader
Ph.D., University of Cambridge
nicolas.thoma[at]fmi.ch
Nico was an undergraduate in Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge (UK), where he also completed his Ph.D. in enzymology and structural biology jointly with Peter Leadlay (University of Cambridge) and Phil Evans (MRC-LMB Cambridge). He then was a postdoc with Roger Goody (Max-Plank Institute, Dortmund) focusing on protein-ligand interactions. In 2001 he moved to the laboratory of Nikola Pavletich (Memorial Sloan Kettering, New York) to complete his training in X-ray crystallography. Nico became a group leader at the FMI in 2006, where he has been tenured as of 2011.
JACOB AGUIRRE
Postdoc, EMBO fellow
Ph.D., University of Western Ontario, Canada
jacob.aguirre[at]fmi.ch
Jake completed his Ph.D at the University of Western Ontario in 2017 studying RBR ubiquitin ligase activation under the supervision of Dr. Gary Shaw. In the Thomä lab, he is studying how cullin-RING ubiquitin ligases, the largest family of E3 enzymes, ensure faithful replication of genomic information. He uses a variety of biophysical and structural techniques, including cryo-EM, to elucidate these processes at the atomic level.
SIMONE CAVADINI
Project Leader, EM Competency Center
simone.cavadini[at]fmi.ch
Simone studied chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) where he received his PhD in 2009 for developing new NMR techniques to probe the structure and dynamics of biomolecules under the supervision of Prof. Geoffrey Bodenhausen. He then moved for a short period to the Institut Biochimique SA (IBSA) in Lugano, Switzerland, where he worked as a mass spectrometry scientist, helping to establish their mass spectrometry facility. In 2011 he joined the Thomä laboratory at FMI for post-doctoral studies on the CRL-CSN complexes before becoming a project leader in 2014. Since 2016 he holds a shared position between the group of Dr. Nicolas Thomä and the electron microscopy facility under Dr. Christel Genoud. Together with his colleague Dr. Andreas Schenk they support FMI users to utilise cryo-EM for their scientific research, contribute to the setup and development of the cryo-EM facility shared with Novartis and explore and validate new methods for single-particle cryo-EM.
DEYASINI CHAKRABORTY
Ph.D. student
M.Sc. in Microbiology, University of Calcutta
deyasini.chakraborty[at]fmi.ch
Deyasini received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Microbiology from the University of Calcutta in 2019. Before joining the Thomä lab for her PhD, she worked in the lab of Sonal Nagarkar Jaiswal at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India. She worked on understanding the roles of a microcephaly-related gene and subunits of COP9 Signalosome complex in neural development in Drosophila. In the Thomä lab, she is interested in studying the molecular interplay between transcription factors and chromatin remodellers.
SEEMON COOMAR
Postdoc
M.Sc. in Chemistry, University of Zurich
seemon.coomar[at]fmi.ch
Seemon studied chemistry at the University of Zürich and did his master thesis in physical organic chemistry in the group of Prof. Dr. Peter Chen. Hereafter he decided to gather all his courage to do a PhD and joined the group of Prof. Dr. Dennis Gillingham (University of Basel). During this time, he explored small molecule protein degraders (i.e. PROTACs and molecular glues) with a particular focus around a class of sulfonamides targeting CRL4DCAF15. In March 2021 he gathered all of his remaining courage and crossed the river to join the Thomä lab where he is currently working on various projects around targeted protein degradation via the Ubiquitin proteasomal pathway.
VIVIAN FOCHT
Master Student
B.Sc. in Chemistry, University of Freiburg
vivian.focht[at]fmi.ch
Vivian completed her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at the University of Freiburg, Germany. She is enrolled in the Master study program Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of Freiburg and joined the Thomä lab for a research internship followed up by her Master thesis. Ever since her Bachelor thesis work in the lab of Oliver Einsle, she is fascinated by structural biology and is now supporting the Thomä lab with the discovery of new molecular glue mechanisms and principal design strategies in the field of targeted protein degradation.
ZUZANNA KOZICKA
Ph.D. Student, UbiCODE fellow
M.Sc. in Chemistry, University of Edinburgh
zuzanna.kozicka[at]fmi.ch
Zuzanna received her Intergrated Masters degree in Chemistry from the University of Edinburgh. During the course of her studies, she also pursued research projects at ETH Zurich (Prof. Nenad Ban) and the University of Dundee (Prof. Alessio Ciulli). In the Thoma lab, she is working on finding novel chemical matter for targeted degradation of DNA-binding proteins.
ALICIA MICHAEL
Postdoc, EMBO/HFSP fellow
Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz
alicia.michael[at]fmi.ch
Alicia received her B.S. in Biochemistry from Western Washington University where she worked in an organometallic chemistry lab under the supervision of Dr. Timothy Clark. She then moved to sunny Santa Cruz, California to do her Ph.D with Carrie Partch, studying the molecular details of circadian rhythms. In the Thomä lab, she is working on elucidating the structural basis of transcriptional regulatory complexes.
GANESH PATHARE
Postdoc
Ph.D., Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Munich
ganesh.pathare[at]fmi.ch
Ganesh received his B.S. Agricultural Biotechnology in Mahatma Phule Agricultural University, India. He then moved to Europe and did his Masters research at the University of Uppsala, Sweden. He completed his Ph.D. at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich, Germany under the supervision of Wolfgang Baumeister studying the 26S proteasome.
ERIC PFEIFFER
Research Associate
M.Sc. in Molecular Biology, University of Basel
eric.pfeiffer[at]fmi.ch
Eric did his Bachelors in Molecular Biology at the University of Basel. He is working on protein expression of complexes in different expression systems.
CARLOS PLA PRATS
Ph.D. Student
M.Sc. in Molecular Biology, Madrid
carlos.pla-prats[at]fmi.ch
Carlos completed a B.Sc. in Chemistry and an M.Sc. in Molecular Biology in Madrid, where he developed a fascination with the molecular basis of life. Following a years-long interest in structural biology, he spent the following year in the labs of Alessandro Vannini (Institute of Cancer Research, London) and Wojtek Galej (European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Grenoble). He there studied proteins involved in transcription by RNA pol III and mRNA maturation before joining the Thomä lab for his PhD. He is now interested in the ever-expanding role of ubiquitin ligases as regulators of key cellular processes and hopes to make great contributions to his field.
COLBY SANDATE
Postdoc
Ph.D., Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla
colby.sandate[at]fmi.ch
Colby received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz. While there he worked in the lab of Carrie Partch, studying the biophysical properties of circadian proteins. He then moved to La Jolla to pursue his PhD with Gabriel Lander at the Scripps Research Institute, where he investigated the structural biology of AAA+ ATPases and circadian oscillators using single particle cryo-EM. In the Thomä Lab he pursues his interest in the molecular and structural biology of DNA-binding proteins - and their targeted degradation.
MIRA SCHÜTZ-STOFFREGEN
Lab Manager
Assistant for Biotechnology, NTA, Isny im Allgäu
mira.schuetz[at]fmi.ch
In more than ten years working as a research associate in a structural biology lab focusing on protein degradation (Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen and University of Regensburg, both Germany) Mira gathered experience in different DNA and protein associated techniques as well as organizing a lab.
In her current position she takes care that we all can work in a smooth-running lab.
LISA STOOS
Master Student
B.Sc. in Chemistry, University of Freiburg
lisa.stoos[at]fmi.ch
Lisa received her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at the University of Freiburg, where she completed her Bachelor thesis in the lab of Prof. Thorsten Friedrich. She is currently doing her Master in the Biochemistry and Biophysics program at the University of Freiburg. In the Thoma lab she is working on identifying the mechanistic principles employed by transcription factors to read out specific sites on nucleosomes.
DAKOTA SUCHYTA
Postdoc
Ph.D., University of North-Carolina Chapel Hill
dakota.suchyta[at]fmi.ch
Dakota received his Bachelors in Chemistry from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in 2012 and then his PhD in Analytical Chemistry from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 2017. He is currently working on the syntheses of new bifunctional degrader molecules that can utilize endogenous ubiquitin ligases to target a range of proteins (e.g., transcription factors).
JOSCHA WEISS
Master Student
B.Sc. in Biosciences, University of Heidelberg
joscha.weiss[at]fmi.ch
Joscha received his B.Sc. in Biosciences from the University of Heidelberg. As part of his M.Sc. program in molecular and cellular biology at the University of Heidelberg, he came to the Thomä lab for a rotation and decided to stay for his master thesis. In the Thomä lab he is mainly studying how transcriptional regulators deal with nucleosomes.