I am Alessia Caiella, I am 25 years old and I am italian. I have completed my bachelor’s degree in biotechnology in 2019 at the University of Camerino in Italy. I have moved to Norway right after that to obtain a master’s degree in biomedical sciences. I completed my master’s in 2021 and started working as an “ingeniør” in Thomas Arnesen’s group, the NAT group, at the University of Bergen. Currently I am a PhD candidate (since January 2023) in the same group.
Our research focuses on a family of enzymes called N-terminal acetyltransferases, NATs for short, which catalyze the transfer of an acetyl group from acetyl-CoA to the N-terminus of specific proteins. Most of the human proteins are acetylated and this modification can affect protein stability, subcellular localization, degradation and aggregation. Our aim is to investigate the effect of N-terminal acetylation in a disease context as well as to characterize novel enzymes. My main interest is cell biology: I particularly enjoy taking a closer look at cells by means of microscopy. Another one of my passions is neuroscience: my master’s project and engineer position focused on α-synuclein, a protein found at the synapse and involved in several neurodegenerative diseases.
