(Vienna, 25 July 2017) Laura D. Gallego Valle, PhD student in Alwin Köhler's working group at the Max F. Perutz Laboratories (MFPL) of the University of Vienna and MedUni Vienna has been awarded the L'Oreal Austria Fellowship.
Laura D. Gallego Valle is interested in epigenetics and transcriptional regulation in particular. This often occurs via the modification of chromatin by the small protein ubiquitin.
This is a fundamental process that occurs in healthy cells as well as in a disrupted form in some human cancers. Over the past few years, the Köhler laboratory has made an important contribution to the field of chromatin ubiquitation.
For example, the scientists were able to show that the ubiquitin system recognises chromatin with a high degree of specificity (Gallego et al., PNAS 2016).
Laura D. Gallego Valle has previously been awarded a DOC scholarship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the L'Oreal Austria Fellowship will now support her through her final year of study.
"The L’Oreal fellowship will enable me to continue with my exciting project and has encouraged me to pursue an academic career. It is also a great honour for the laboratory and I would like to thank my colleagues and my Group Leader for their support during this period," says Laura.
The L'Oreal Austria Fellowship is a programme run by L'Oreal in collaboration with the Austrian UNESCO Commission and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Its purpose is to support female scientists from different fields in the early stages of their careers. Since the scheme was set up, it has helped 40 women.