Donate nowCongratulations to the latest recipients of the IUBMB Wood-Whelan Research Fellowships. This round of awards recognizes outstanding early-career researchers from Argentina, Canada, Cuba, Italy, and Serbia, who have been selected to receive fellowship support to undertake research and scientific collaboration at host laboratories within the IUBMB region.
Romina Aimar is an Argentinian biotechnologist and currently a PhD student in Neurosciences at the Biological Chemistry Research Center of Córdoba (CIQUIBIC-CONICET) and the National University of Córdoba (UNC), Argentina. She also holds a position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry at UNC. Her doctoral research, supervised by Dr. Lucas Sosa, focuses on the genetic dosage effect of the Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) and its critical role in early neuronal degeneration and pathogenesis associated with Alzheimer’s Disease in Down Syndrome.
Alessandra Aulino is from Trapani, Sicily, Italy, and is currently a PhD candidate in the Doctoral School in Biological Sciences and Oncology of the University of Turin, studying neurogenetics and rare genetic diseases.
She chose a career in genetics because she has always been fascinated by how small changes in DNA can shape such complex and diverse human traits. Genetics represents a bridge between fundamental science and real-life impact, offering the possibility to better understand patients’ conditions and contribute, even in a small way, to improved diagnosis and care.
What she finds especially compelling about her work is the opportunity to investigate a gene, combining genetic data with experimental approaches to uncover its potential role. More broadly, her work reflects the challenge and excitement of moving from a single genetic finding to a deeper understanding of the biological mechanisms behind it.
Natalia Burachik is a PhD student from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has a degree in Biology with a specialization in molecular biology from the University of Buenos Aires. She has always loved nature, and plants quickly won her heart. Intrigued by how light influences an organism’s growth, she joined Dr. Agustina Mazzella’s Plant Phototransduction Laboratory at INGEBI–CONICET in 2021, where she completed her undergraduate thesis and began her PhD. She is currently working on uncovering how phosphorylation modulates the function of different proteins such as the splicing factor At-RS31 in Arabidopsis thaliana (the molecular plant model) in response to light. She uses a lot of microscopy and molecular techniques. She is also passionate about teaching and science communication. She teaches Botany at her university and has participated in various public science events throughout the city. Outside of science, she is an art enthusiast who enjoys painting with oils on canvas as her way of staying grounded.
Jovana Ćurčić is a PhD candidate and Research Assistant in the Group for Molecular Microbiology at the Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering (IMGGE), University of Belgrade, Serbia. She completed her BSc in Molecular Biology and Physiology in 2020 and her MSc in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in 2021 at the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, where she also start her PhD studies.
Her research focuses on the discovery and characterization of novel lactonases—quorum-quenching enzymes that disrupt bacterial communication and virulence. She studies their biochemical properties, antibiofilm, antiquorum sensing, and antivirulence potential, as well as their synergy with antibiotics and safety profiles. Her work combines in vitro and in vivo approaches, using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system.
Sandra del Valle Pelaiz graduated in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Havana, Cuba, in 2024. She currently serves as an Instructor Professor at the Faculty of Biology, where she teaches Enzymology and Carbohydrate and Lipid Metabolism. Her research explores aminopeptidase inhibitors as potential therapeutic tools, as the activity of these enzymes is associated with features of the malignant phenotype, making them attractive targets for anticancer intervention.
She is affiliated with projects under the Cuban National Program of Basic Sciences, as well as an industry collaboration with the Center of Molecular Immunology. Her bachelor’s thesis received the Best Thesis Prize at the National Student Forum, and she was also awarded the Rector’s Award from the University of Havana for her outstanding trajectory as a student researcher.
She is a co-author of two articles published in peer-reviewed international journals, and her work has been presented at national and international scientific events.
Andrew J. Gierys is a 4th year PhD candidate at the University of Manitoba working in the Department of Microbiology at the Prehna Lab. His research focuses on the structural characterization of membrane-protein effectors and their deployment across membranes by the Type-6 Secretion System (T6SS). He has been awarded the IUBMB Wood Whelan Research Fellowship to travel to King’s College, London in Dr. Julien Bergeron’s lab to complete his project on the “Structural elucidation of VgrG-PAAR assembly in the Type-6 secretion system arrow-tip” using Cryo-EM. By obtaining a structure of a membrane-bound T6SS arrow-tip we can better understand how effectors are piloted across membranes in prey cells an enact their toxic activity.
Lucía Lanza is a postdoctoral researcher at the Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas (INSIBIO, CONICET–National University of Tucumán, Argentina), working under the supervision of Dr. Carlos Minahk. Her research focuses on antimicrobial peptides produced by lactic acid bacteria and the development of novel therapeutic strategies against multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens. Her current work investigates the antibacterial mechanisms and translational potential of bacteriocins, with particular interest in nanotechnology-based delivery systems to improve peptide stability, bioavailability, and intracellular activity. Through the IUBMB Wood-Whelan Research Fellowship, she will undertake a research stay at Pennsylvania State University in the laboratory of Dr. Dipanjan Pan to develop ionizable lipid-based cubosome formulations for the targeted delivery of Enterocin CRL35, aiming to advance new precision antimicrobial approaches for difficult-to-treat bacterial infections.
Natalia Pagliaro is a PhD student at the Instituto Tecnológico Chascomús (UNSAM-CONICET) in Argentina. She completed her degree in Biotechnology and Molecular Biology at Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Her current research focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying germ stem cell proliferation during embryonic gonadal development, a critical and conserved process across vertebrates whose disruption can lead to severe reproductive consequences, including infertility. Specifically, her project investigates how the microRNA miR-23a2 regulates germ cell proliferation through ndrg1b in female medaka fish embryos.
Receiving the IUBMB Wood-Whelan Research Fellowship represents a significant contribution to her career. It will allow her to travel to Germany for a research stay at the University of Heidelberg, joining the laboratory of Dr. Lázaro Centanin at the Centre for Organismal Studies (COS), where she will learn to transplant germ cells from mir-23a2 mutant and wt individuals into sterile host embryos, exploring whether this microRNA acts intrinsically or extrinsically from germ or somatic cells.
This collaboration will significantly advance her doctoral thesis, and she looks forward to bringing this knowledge back to her lab in Argentina to help grow the local scientific community.
International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology