Julia Andreeva (Piskunova)

Supervisor Konstantin Severinov

Entry year to Skoltech – 2013

Research project – Microcins as base for developing new antibiotic

Probably the oldest and most widespread antimicrobial strategy in living organisms is the use of antimicrobial peptides. Bacteria secrete such defense peptides, termed bacteriocins that they use for microbial competitions. Microcins are bacteriocins of less than 10 kDa produced by Escherichia coli and related enterobacteria through the ribosomal pathway. Microcins target essential molecular machines inside the cells. They offer new and promising tracks for further design and engineering of novel efficient antibiotics. Therefore, the ultimate goal of my research is the creation a new kind of antibiotics with a broad range of action derived from microcins’ family of natural antibiotics.

Graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics, Specialist in Bioengineering, 2013

M.Sc. Diploma «Comparative analysis of maturation process of Escherichia coli microcin B and its analogue from seudomonas syringae pv. glycinea B076» under the guidance of Prof. Severinov and D.Ghilarov.
Participation in the conferences and schools:
1. M.V. Metelev, D.A. Ghilarov, M.V. Serebryakova, J. Piskunova, K.V. Severinov. Studies of microcin B homolog from Pseudomonas syringae pv. glycinea B076. Abstract book of the 3th International conference «Post-Genome Methods of Analysis in Biology and Laboratory and Clinical Medicine», Kazan, Russia, November 22-24, 2012.
2. International conference «Molecular Control of Gene Expression»: Piskunova J., Zuher I. «Influence of expression E.coli mcC operon on hosts proteins’ expression», 18-19 June 2015, Moscow, IBG RAN.
3. International Conference for Students and Young Scientists “Lomonosov”: Piskunova J. “The study of bacterial persistence induction by peptide antibiotic microcin C”, 11-15 April 2016, Moscow, Lomonosov Moscow State University.
4. Interdisciplinary School and Conference “Information Technologies and Systems”: Piskunova J, Maisonneuve E, Gerdes K, Severinov K. “Induction of bacterial persistence by peptide antibiotic microcin C”, 25-30 September 2016, St.Petersburg.
5. The summer school in 2016 of Manna Center Program for Food Safety and Security Tel Aviv University:  «Introduction to Food Security” and “Desert Agriculture” were taken.

Part of my work was done in Center for Bacterial Stress Response and Persistence, University of Copenhagen, Denmark (http://basp.bio.ku.dk) under the guidance of Etienne Maisonneuve, Kenn Gerdes and Konstantin Severinov.