LAB WIZARDS
BIOGRAPHY
Pau studied Human Biology at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, before moving to Oxford, London and the Technical University of Denmark where he obtained his PhD in Computational Biology.
He then received a postdoctoral fellowship from the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation to pursue his postdoctoral studies at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. After securing a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence award from NIH/NCI, he established his lab at the University of Cambridge – CRUK Cambridge Institute in 2020.
WIZARD FEATURES
ICON DESCRIPTION
I really enjoy thinking deeply about research questions and how by doing so we can contribute towards improving disease outcomes.
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Ab initio protein / peptide / drug design
MAGIC SPELL
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.” - Albert Einstein
KRYPTONITE
This will never work / You can’t do it
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND RELATED QUOTES:
Perseverance
- “I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed” - Michael Jordan
- "The job is not done” - Michael Jordan
- "There's a thousand other guys waiting in the wings who are obsessed with this game. Obsession is going to beat talent every time. You got all the talent in the world, but are you obsessed? Let's face it. It's you against you out there. When you walk on that court, you have to think, "I am the best guy out there". So let me ask you again. Do you love this game?” - Stanley Beren (Hustle)
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
Exploiting temporal collateral sensitivity in tumor clonal evolution
Unmasking determinants of specificity in the human kinome
Kinome-wide decoding of network-attacking mutations rewiring cancer signaling
BIOGRAPHY
Mihkel is a postdoctoral research fellow who is interested in (unravelling and targeting) protein signalling networks. His PhD work in the University of Tartu in Estonia was on protein phosphorylation in yeast cell cycle. He then joined the Institute of Cancer Research in London to characterise motif-mediated protein-protein interactions in a high-throughput manner. He joined Pau Creixell’s lab with a Horizon Europe Guarantee MSCA postdoctoral fellowship to investigate the therapeutic potential of targeting dynamic protein-protein interactions.
WIZARD FEATURES
ICON DESCRIPTION
In my free time I enjoy hiking and exploring new areas
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Short linear motifs in signal processing
MAGIC SPELL
"Intelligence is knowing the right answer. Wisdom is knowing when to say it." - Tim Fargo
KRYPTONITE
Unmotivated people, mushy peas
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND RELATED QUOTES:
Resourcefulness
- " "There are many means", said granny when she was wiping the table with the cat." - Finnish saying
- "A bit of madness is key to give us new colors to see. Who knows where it will lead us?" - Mia in La La Land
- "The measure of intelligence is the ability to change." ― Albert Einstein
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
The Eukaryotic Linear Motif resource: 2022 release
Multisite phosphorylation code of CDK
Cyclin-Specific Docking Mechanisms Reveal the Complexity of M-CDK Function in the Cell Cycle
BIOGRAPHY
Gerard is a postdoctoral researcher interested in protein design and cancer signalling networks. During his PhD he studied membrane proteins from a biophysical point of view, using molecular biology and biochemistry tools. He spent some time at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he worked on membrane protein design projects regarding apoptosis. He has now joined Pau Creixell’s lab at the CRUK-Cambridge Institute.
WIZARD FEATURES
ICON DESCRIPTION
When I have free time I like to cook. Cooking, like science, is about following protocols. Sometimes it works out well, but other times it doesn't.
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Membrane proteins. Nice figure design.
MAGIC SPELL
“Science is not about building a body of known “facts”. It is a method for asking awkward questions and subjecting them to a reality-check, thus avoiding the human tendency to believe whatever makes us feel good” – Terry Pratchett
KRYPTONITE
Cold weather / dichotomies
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND RELATED QUOTES:
Thinking outside the box.
- "Nothing is impossible. We merely don't know how to do it yet" – Thomas Eddison
- “Do not have more convictions than those that are decidedly essential” – Joan Fuster
- “Belief is the wound that knowledge heals” – Ursula K. Le Guin
- “Description begins in the writer’s imagination but should finish in the readers” – Stephen King
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
Computational design of BclxL inhibitors that target transmembrane domain interactions.
Intra-Helical Salt Bridge Contribution to Membrane Protein Insertion.
Viral Bcl2s’ transmembrane domain interact with host Bcl2 proteins to control cellular apoptosis
BIOGRAPHY
Mingxuan has recently completed studying Chemistry with Molecular Physics Master’s Program at Imperial College London, where he specialised in robotic chemistry and computational chemistry for drug design. He came top in the year – the best chemistry student in the whole of London, 2021. He is now at Cambridge Universtiy working towards his PhD in Pau Creixell’s group.
WIZARD FEATURES
ICON DESCRIPTION
The Medicine Buddha Pagoda in Nanjing makes me reminisce of my home far, far away. Its spirit also reminds me to dedicate myself to improving medical approaches to ease suffering in this world.
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Molecular biophysics and experimental drug discovery
MAGIC SPELL
- Procrastination is the thief of all time!
- The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step
KRYPTONITE
I cannot stand long beans, especially if they are undercooked. Too rubbery!
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND RELATED QUOTE:
- Truth in science can be defined as the working hypothesis best suited to open the way to the next better one – Konrad Lorenz
- I like people who are motivated and free from distractions.
WIZARD FEATURES
ICON DESCRIPTION
Like Naruto, Ramen is my soul as well.
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Cancer signaling explorer
MAGIC SPELL
- No matter how high the mountain is, one can always ascend to its top
- No shortcut is the best shortcut
- SNP: Simple, Naive, and Pure
KRYPTONITE
- "Give up"
- "You are not able to do it"
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND RELATED QUOTE:
"Life is not easy for any of us. But so what? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted with something and that this thing must be achieved." - Marie Curie
BIOGRAPHY
Luis is a biologist, geneticist and bioinformatician from Costa Rica. His past research was focused on human genetics, DNA repair and radiation oncology. His current research as a PhD student in the Creixell Lab is focused on the molecular evolution of tyrosine kinases. Moreover, he combines high-throughput biochemistry and structural bioinformatics in order to design less toxic and more efficient therapeutic hits to target oncogenic tyrosine kinases in paediatric brain tumours. He was awarded a PhD fellowship from the Board of Trustees of the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF) in 2022 and became an Associate Member of the Royal Society of Biology in 2023.
WIZARD FEATURES
ICON DESCRIPTION
I am passionate about history, architecture and art. Castles are fascinating and remind me that every kingdom must one day come to an end.
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Structural bioinformatics and protein biochemistry
MAGIC SPELL
Try until you achieve it
KRYPTONITE
Waking up early
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND RELATED QUOTE:
Perseverance
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act but a habit” - Will Durant (The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World’s Greatest Philosophers)
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
Insights into the pathogenicity of missense variants in the forkhead domain of FOX proteins underlying Mendelian disorders
Mutational survivorship bias: The case of PNKP
The Time for Chronotherapy in Radiation Oncology
DNA repair deficiency in neuropathogenesis: when all roads lead to mitochondria
BIOGRAPHY
Amelia is a PhD student who graduated from her Bsc in Biochemistry from the University of Bath. She completed an industrial placement at the Cancer Research UK AstraZencea antibody alliance lab where she had a fantastic time developing a biological PROTAC. Now she is interested in how understanding protein-protein interactions in the Creixell lab can be used to design targeted therapeutics.
WIZARD FEATURES
ICON DESCRIPTION
Swimming, running, cycling
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Smile and the world smiles with you
MAGIC SPELL
If you fold a piece of paper 32 times it will reach the moon
KRYPTONITE
Loosing things
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND RELATED QUOTES:
The same water that softens pasta hardens an egg. It’s not about your environment that matters, its how you react to it.
BIOGRAPHY
JJ attained his BSc from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, where his thesis involved the computational design of stapled peptides for PPI inhibition. His work with Dr Chandra Verma at the Bioinformatics Institute, A*STAR then led him into the field of protein kinase biochemistry. He received an A*STAR scholarship to pursue his PhD with the Creixell lab and is looking to reconcile the biochemistry of kinases with their signalling effects as well as engineer new functional proteins for their study.
WIZARD FEATURES
ICON DESCRIPTION
Badminton is a lot like science; you keep hitting back at whatever unexpected shots thrown your way until a result is obtained.
SECRET MAGIC TRICK
Computational biophysics, protein dynamics
MAGIC SPELL
"But nature did not deem it her business to make the discovery of her laws easy for us" — Albert Einstein "If you torture the data long enough, it will confess" — Ronald Coase
KRYPTONITE
>30°C weather
FAVOURITE TRAIT AND RELATED QUOTES:
Open-mindedness "Science at its best is an open-minded method of inquiry, not a belief system" – Rupert Sheldrake
