Copenhagen Bioscience Snapshot – Life after a PhD: Deciphering Replication Origins in Genome Integrity, and Careers Inside and Outside Academia – with Hana Polasek-Sedlackova, Mette Agger and Jan-Erik Messling

The Copenhagen Bioscience Snapshots are a series of seminar events organized by PhD students of the Copenhagen Bioscience PhD programme since 2019. The seminars host speakers from different scientific backgrounds aiming to connect a broad audience of scientists.

Description

Dr. Hana Polasek-Sedlackova: Deciphering Replication Origins in Genome Integrity –Group Leader, Institute of Biophysics at the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic

Dr. Polasek-Sedlackova finished her PhD in December 2020, and became a Group Leader in early 2022. She did her PhD in the Copenhagen Bioscience PhD programme, at the NNF Center for Protein Research. She will discuss her scientific research (abstract below), and also summarize her career so far.

DNA replication is an essential cellular process to duplicate genetic information in proliferating cells. However, malfunctions in genome duplication can cause genome instability and serious human health diseases including cancer. DNA replication initiates at replication origins that are licensed-to-replicate by the formation of pre-replicative complexes (pre-RCs), which serve as essential precursors for DNA replication and their accurate levels are critical to alleviating genome instability. However, the molecular mechanism(s) of pre-RC formation and their precise roles in safeguarding genome integrity is poorly understood. Using CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing and high-content imaging, we recently elucidated long-standing challenges in imaging of DNA replication machinery in living cells and discovered a novel homeostasis pathway of DNA replication origins ensuring the precise replication origins assembly necessary to protect genome integrity. With my research team, I am currently exploring the regulatory pathways of DNA replication origins and their contribution to patho-physiological states of human tissue development. We believe that our findings will illuminate the fundaments of DNA replication and reveal mechanisms counteracting genome instability in disease.

Dr. Jan-Erik Messling: My transition from academia to consulting – Associate at Boston Consulting Group, Copenhagen

Dr. Messling finished his PhD in December 2021, and has been an Associate at Boston Consulting Group since January 2022. He did his PhD in the Copenhagen Bioscience PhD programme, at the NNF Center for Stem Cell Biology at SUND, University of Copenhagen.

Mette Agger: Think outside the box, be open to opportunities and don’t get hung up on career planning– Advisor, Board Member, Senior Executive, CEO

Ms. Agger spent 12 years as a Managing Partner at Lundbeckfonden. She is now an Advisor, Board Member or CEO at several biotech companies in Europe and the USA.  She is a successful venture investor and experienced board director.

Registration

The event is free and open to all.

We request that participants register,so we know how many people to expect (and how much refreshments to provide).

Event info and registration: https://www.tilmeld.dk/cph-bioscience-snapshot-nov-23

Please contact the organizers Sonja Kabatnik (sonja.kabatnik@cpr.ku.dk) or David Tandio (david.tandio@sund.ku.dk) if you have questions about the event.