Paola Laurino

Paola Laurino

Associate Professor

Visiting Professor at the Institute of Protein Research @Osaka University 

Assistant professor (Sept 2017-Oct 2022)

Ph.D. Organic Chemistry (ETH Zurich, 2011)
M.Ph. Medicinal Chemistry (Leiden University, 2007)
Master Degree (Laurea) Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology (Milan University)

paola.laurino

I am an organic chemist with broad interests in biochemistry and protein evolution. I was born and grew up in Italy. After pursuing a master in medicinal chemistry in the Netherlands, I started my doctoral studies in organic chemistry in ETHZ (Switzerland). During my PhD I moved to Max Plank Institute (Germany) along with my mentor and there finished my doctoral studies. As postdoctoral fellow I spent the last four years studying enzyme evolution and engineering in Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel).

Awards, Fellowships and Grants

• 2022 Takeda grant
• 2022 Rita Colwell award
• 2022 Faculty excellence in mentoring award
• 2021 Iwatani award
• OIST Kick-start Fund (2019-21)
• JSPS grant, Kakenhi Early Career Scientist (2018)
• FGS-Weizmann Institute of Science, Senior Post Doctoral Fellowship (2015)
• Federation of European Biochemical Societies, FEBS Long Term Fellowship (2012-13)
• European Molecular Biology Organization, EMBO Long Term Post Doctoral Fellowship (2012) (Declined)

Selected Oral Presentations

• EMBO workshop, Enzymes, Biocatalysis and Chemical Biology: The new frontiers (Italy), Invited Speaker (2018)
• EMBO Conference, Chemical Biology 2018 (Germany), Abstract selected for a talk (2018)
• The Fifth International Conference on Cofactors and Active Enzyme Molecule (Japan), Invited Speaker (2016)
• The Fourth International Conference on Cofactors (ICC-04, Italy), Abstract selected for a talk (2014)
• Gordon Research Conference, Enzyme, Coenzyme and Metabolic Pathways (USA), Abstract selected for a talk (2014)
• Federation of European Biochemical Societies, 38th FEBS Congress “Mechanism in Biology” (Russia), Abstract Selected for a talk (2013)

Selected Publications

• Toledo-Patino, S.; Pascarelli, S.; Uechi, G.; Laurino, P.* Insertions and deletions mediated functional divergence of Rossmann fold enzymes, PNAS, 2022, 119, 48, e2207965119.
• Gade, M. H.; Lynn Tan, L.; Damry, A. M.; Sandhu, M.; Brock, J. S.; Delanay, A.; Villar-Briones, A.; Jackson, C. J.*; Laurino, P.* Substrate dynamics contributes to enzymatic specificity in Human and bacterial methionine adenosyltransferases. JACS Au, 2021, 1, 12, 2349-2360.
• Clifton, B. E.; Fariz, M. A.; Uechi, G.; Laurino, P.* Evolutionary repair reveals an unexpected role of the tRNA modification m1G37 in aminoacylation. Nucleic Acid Res. 2021, 49, 21, 12467-12485. 
• Testa A.†; Dindo, M.†; Rebane, A.; Nasouri, B.; Style, R.; Golestanian, R.; Dufresne, E.;* Laurino, P.* Sustained Enzymatic activity and Flow in Crowded Protein Droplets Nat. Commun., 2021, 12, 6293.
• Laurino P., Tawfik D.S. Spontaneous Emergence of S-Adenosylmethionine and the Evolution of Methylation. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2017, 56, 343-345. This article has been recommended in F1000Prime as being of special significance in its field.
• Laurino P., Tóth-Petróczy Á., Meana-Pañeda R., Lin W., Truhlar D.G., Tawfik D.S. An Ancient Fingerprint Indicates the Common Ancestry of Rossmann-Fold Enzymes Utilizing Different Ribose-Based Cofactors. PLoS Biology 2016, 3, e1002396.