About me
I am a computational and structural biophysicist with a medical background and passionate about physics and mathematical modelling. My aim is to understand life mechanisms and human diseases at the atomic scale: how mutations alter protein structure, motions and biological function.
Research description
My group develops theoretical methods and algorithms to predict conformational changes in proteins, and apply them to the in-depth integrative study of mutations, with the aim to generate new mechanistic hypothesis and test them in vitro and in vivo.
For more information check the KI website of our team:
https://ki.se/en/onkpat/research-team-laura-orellana-protein-dynamics-a…
A complete publication list may be found at Google scholar and ResearchGate.
Education
2010–2014: PhD in Physics summa cum laude, Faculty of Physics, University of Barcelona
Thesis: “Protein Dynamics and Function studied by coarse-grained and atomistic theoretical approaches”
2008–2011: Clinical training (M.D. degree, 2nd cycle, up to 345 out of 500 ECTS), Hospital Clínic de Barcelona & Hospital Universitari Sagrat Cor
2008 –2010: MSc in Biophysics, Faculty of Physics, University of Barcelona
2006 – 2007: MSc in Structure & Function of Proteins, Barcelona Autonomous University
2003–2005: BSc in Biochemistry with Extraordinary Prize & minor in Physics, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona
1999–2003: Medicine (M.D. degree, 1st cycle), Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona
Academic appointments
Nov. 2020: Tenure-track Assistant Professor in Medical Sciences, Karolinska Institute
2019-2020: Researcher (Forskare) in Structural Biology, Stockholm University
2014-2018: Postdoctoral Fellow in Computational Biophysics & Cryo-EM, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) & Stockholm University (Science for Life Laboratory, SciLifeLab)
2008-2014: Graduate Student in Protein Biophysics & Molecular Modelling, Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona & Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Academic honours, awards and prizes
2021: Vetenskapsrådet (Swedish Research Council) Starting Grant in Medicine
2021: Petrus och Augusta Hedlunds Foundation Grant
2021: Cancerfonden (Swedish Cancer Foundation) Junior Investigator Award
2020: Jeanssons Foundation Young Leaders Starting Grant
2020: Karolinska Institute Research Foundation Special Grant
2019: Karolinska Institute Tenure-track Faculty Position with start-up grant Award (KI Allocation of faculty funded career positions 2019)
2019: O.E. och Edla Johanssons Research Grant
2016-2018: Sven och Lily Lawski Foundation Fellow
Academic Honors
2006: Extraordinary Prize for Academic Excellence in Biochemistry, University of Barcelona