Doryen Bubeck

Summary

Doryen Bubeck received her PhD in Biophysics from Harvard University in 2005 where she used cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to investigate the cell entry mechanism of poliovirus. As an EMBO postdoctoral fellow and Cancer Research Institute Fellow at the University of Oxford, she continued to explore the structures of membrane proteins, focusing on the complement immune pathway. Over 50 years since the complement membrane attack complex was visualized, a recent highlight from the lab reports the first 3D structure of the complete pore. These results provide a framework for understanding the complex protein associations underlying activation of this innate immune effector and opens new directions of research investigating the lipid environment’s impact on MAC function. Doryen Bubeck is a Reader in Structural Immunology within the Department of Life Sciences and holds a Satellite Group Leader position at the Francis Crick Institute. She is currently the Director of the Centre for Structural Biology at Imperial College. Her current research adopts a structural to investigate the role of membrane proteins in host-pathogen interactions. Supported by an ERC Consolidator Award, she aims to investigate how membrane attack complex (MAC) pore formation is controlled, a process important for fighting infections and preventing complement-mediated tissue damage.

New work from the lab out in Nature Communications!