Farewell, Hualin!

This summer, it was our great pleasure to host Hualin Li, a PhD student from the Institute of Science Tokyo (formerly Tokyo Tech), for two months of specialized cryo-EM data analysis. Thank you for the great time — wishing you continued success with your PhD!

Scholarship competitions open!

We are currently recruiting two PhD students and one Master's student to join our team, with exceptional remuneration. Passionate about synthetic biology and protein cage engineering? Find out more on our open positions page.

New Grant Awarded — Join Our Team!

We've been awarded NCN OPUS-30 funding to engineer bacterial protein cages (AaLS) into programmable nanocarriers for RNA packaging and controlled delivery. Our chemistry-driven approach goes beyond natural viral systems. We're recruiting 2 PhD students and 1 postdoc, get in touch! >> Open Positions <<

New publication in Nature Communications

Here's a basket full of mushrooms, a good natural source of vitamin B2. But, do you know some bacteria produce the same nutrient in molecular 'cages'? Our new cryo-EM study reveals their elegant mechanism of enzyme compartmentalization. 

Link to publisher page

Encapsidic production study published in J. Mater. Chem. B

Our encapsidic protein production paper is finally out!! Here, we've established a robust and customizable system for otherwise troublesome recombinant protein production. Our protein cage-based method can be a game-changer for your lab work. Check it out >>here<<.

Another academic degree

Yusuke received his doktor habilitowany diploma at the Collegium Maius, the oldest building of Jagiellonian University from the 14th century. 

EMBO-FEBS Physical Virology

Yusuke had 4 days of intensive scientific discussion, supplemented with good food and wine, at a beautiful coast-side village in Cataluna. 

Publication in ACS Nano

We have revealed the molecular mechanism and geometrical theory underlying the dynamic, polymorphic assembly of pentamer-based protein cages and nanotubes. More details are available for free of charge at the publisher site >>here<<.

Pentamer-based protein nanotubes

Our latest knowledge on how pentameric proteins dynamically and controllably assemble into diverse hollow structures is now posted on BioRxiv.

ArtBio in Aarhus

Maria, Jedrzej, Vishal, and Yusuke presented our latest results at a conference on artificial biology. Many thanks to the organizers for such an exciting event. Jedzrej received a reward for his active participation in the discussion!  

Group Dinner

We had enough reasons for making a toast on a beautiful summer day: (1) Maria successfully defended her master's degree with an exception mark, (2) Daniel is about to depart for a new journey in the USA, and (3) new members, Monika and Zanyar, just joined us.

An exceptional master

Maria successfully defended her master's degree, not surprisingly, with an exceptional mark. Congratulation!!

Publication in Small

Yusuke's collaboration work with Prof. Jonathan Heddle is now published in Small. Reengineering of an Artificial Protein Cage for Efficient Packaging of Active Enzymes.

A postdoc position available!!

The application deadline has been extended to 15.11.2023.

We are looking for a highly qualified postdoc researcher. The successful candidate will be involved in the project to understand the molecular mechanism of the guest packaging and its impact on the catalytic activity of the vitamin B2 synthesizing compartment, riboflavin synthase/lumazine synthase complex. 

First Publication

Our first research article reported from MCB, is now published in J-"MCB", a.k.a Journal of Materials Chemistry B. Complementary charge-driven encapsulation of functional protein by engineered protein cages in cellulo.

Another Master!

Congratulations! Jędrzej successfully defended a Master's title with a perfect score. Btw, how many people do you see in the picture?

New members joined us

Autumn is the season for new departures. After successfully defending for Master's degrees, Marta and Daniel Z started their new careers as PhD students. Meanwhile, we welcome our new members, Magdalena, Maria, and Daniel J, who joined us as master's students or technicians.

A book chapter published!

Our new review article about microbial production of cage-forming lumazine synthases is now published as a Springer book chapter. Congratulation, Łukasz and Agnieszka! 

Material Research Congress

Marta, Jęndrej, Vishal, Agnieszka, Daniel, and Yusuke gave a virtual presentation at the international materials research congress to share our latest results.

A postdoc position available!!

We are looking for a highly qualified postdoc researcher. The successful candidate will be involved in the project to develop a method for engineering of supercharged proteins using our unique protein cage-based technology.

Scholarship for a Master's student available!

We are now looking for a highly motivated master's student joining us on October 2022. This is a fully funded position lasting for 2 years. The application deadline is 31st July 2022. 

A more Master!

One more achievement!! Our student, Daniel Zakaszewski, is now a Master of Science in Biochemistry, while the examiner said he is almost ready to award PhD!! Congratulations, Daniel!!

The first Master from the group

What a great day! Our master's student Marta Aleksejczuk successfully defended with an honors degree. Congratulations, Marta!

The first group photo

Finally! We managed to take our first group photo in our backyard. Many thanks to Yu-Chiuan for the nice piture

A new publication in Science Advances

Happy to start the new year by sharing the collaboration work with the Heddle Lab, finally published in Science Advances. Chemically induced protein cage assembly with programmable opening and cargo release.  

EMBO Young Scientist's Forum in Warsaw

Marta and Yusuke presented our recent results in the EMBO Young Scientists'Forum in Warsaw. Many thanks to Maria Górna, Anna Karnkowska, and Agata Starosta for organizing such a challenging hybrid conference.

A postdoc position available!!

We are looking for a highly qualified postdoc researcher. The successful candidate will be involved in the project to understand the molecular mechanism of the guest packaging and its impact on the catalytic activity of the vitamin B2 synthesizing compartment, riboflavin synthase/lumazine synthase complex. 

Joanna's work published

Congratulation Joanna! Her previous work at Queen Mary University of London about antiparasitic drug mechanism is now published in Molecular Microbiology. Check out more about the study on the publisher's page.

A scholarship for a Master's student available

We are now recruiting a highly motivated Master’s student for a fully funded position lasting for up to 2 years. The successful candidate will be involved in the research project for production of difficult-to-express proteins using unique protein cage system, in capso production. 

Another research grant 

We won the NCN Opus-19 competition (NZ1) with a structural/enzymological study on a bacterial nanocompartment! This project includes an employment opportunity for a postdoc researcher and we will announce the application details soon.

New members joined us

A postdoc Agnieszka and two master's students Daniel and Marta just joined our group. Together with our lab manger Joanna who also just started in August, we are now keen to develop innovative science much faster than before!

BIONANO 2020

Yusuke presented the latest results about our protein cage engineering project in the Bionano 2020 conference organized by our partner laboratory of Prof. Jonathan Heddle.

EMBO Young Scientist's Forum in Warsaw

Łukasz and Yusuke gave a presentation in the EMBO YIP sectoral meeting in RNA and Structural Biology, held in an online format entirely. Many thanks to the organizers for their efforts to arrange such a challenging virtual meeting.

A new computer workstation arrived

We purchased a high-spec server system for cryoEM single particle reconstruction. This additional computer power will facilitate our structural data analysis significantly.

A postdoc position available!!

We are now looking for a highly qualified postdoc researcher. The successful candidate will be involved in the project to develop a new method for production of difficult-to-express proteins through engineering of self-assembling protein cages. 

A scholarship for a PhD student available

We are now recruiting a highly motivated doctoral student for a fully funded position lasting for up to 4 years. The successful candidate will be involved in the research project to engineer protein cages as tools for production of difficult-to-express proteins. 

Azuma group won the NCN Opus-18 competition

We are successful to obtain a new funding for our protein cage engineering project, ranking at the first position in this Opus-18 competition (NZ1)! The National Science Center (NCN) supports basic researches implemented by scientists hosted by Polish institutes.

A new review article published in Nanoscale Advances

A collaboration work with our partner group, Heddle Lab, is now published online in Nanoscale Advances. This review article tells you how to connect protein building blocks to form artificial cage- and lattice-like nanostructures. 

The Azuma group website launched

We will update our activity here;)