Structural Genomics Group

CNAG-CRG

GROUP LEADER:
Marc A. Marti-Renom

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS:
François Serra, Yannick Spill, Marco di Stefano, Irene Farabella, Juan Rodríguez (from May)

PhD Students: Gireesh K. Bogu (until July), Silvia Galan, Paula Soler, Julen Mendieta (from April), Aleksandra Sparavier (from September), Francesca Mugianesi (from October)

PROGRAMMERS, TECHNICIANS:
Michael Goodstadt, David Castillo

LABORATORY TECHNICIAN:
Yasmina Cuartero

Summary

How biomolecules fold and function in a three-dimensional space is one of the most challenging questions in biology. For example, we have limited knowledge on how the 2-meter-long DNA molecule folds in the micro-sized nucleus or how RNA, proteins and small chemical compounds fold and interact to perform their most basic functions of the cell. Our research group employ the laws of physics and the rules of evolution to develop and apply experimental and computational methods for predicting the 3D structures of macromolecules and their complexes.

Research Projects

  • Structure determination of genomes. We develop methods for determining the 3D organization of the chromatin
  • Comparative RNA structure prediction. We develop a series of tools for the alignment of RNA structures and the prediction of their structures and functions.
  • Protein-Ligand interactions. We develop methods for comparative docking of small chemical compounds and their target proteins.

Selected Publications

Serra F, Baù D, Goodstadt M, Castillo D, Filion G, Marti-Renom MA.
“Automatic analysis and 3D-modelling of Hi-C data using TADbit reveals structural features of the fly chromatin colors.”
PLoS Comput Biol, 13(7):e1005665 (2017).

Trussart M, Yus E, Martinez S, Baù D, Tahara YO, Pengo T, Widjaja M, Kretschmer S, Swoger J, Djordjevic S, Turnbull L, Whitchurch C, Miyata M, Marti-Renom MA, Lluch-Senar M, Serrano L.
“Defined chromosome structure in the genome-reduced bacterium Mycoplasma pneumoniae.”
Nat Commun, 8:14665 (2017).

Martínez-Jiménez F, Overington JP, Al-Lazikani B, Marti-Renom MA.
“Rational design of non-resistant targeted cancer therapies.”
Sci Rep, 7:46632 (2017).

Goodstadt M, Marti-Renom MA.
“Challenges for visualizing three-dimensional data in genomic browsers.”
FEBS Lett, 591(17):2505-2519 (2017).

Le Dily F, Serra F, Marti-Renom M
“3D modeling of chromatin structure: is there a way to integrate and reconcile single cell and population experimental data?.”
Wiley Interdiscip Rev Comput Mol Sci, 7,5 e1308 (2017).