Laura Orellana

Researcher (Förskare)

Email: laura.orellana@scilifelab.se

Projects:

Background:

My research focuses in the relationship between the structure, the dynamics and the function of proteins, and how this interplay is perturbed causing disease. I have a interdisciplinary background in Medicine, Biochemistry and Physics. I studied Medicine and Biochemistry (minor in Physics) at the University of Barcelona and the Clinic Hospital, followed by two master degrees, in Protein Structure and Function and in Biophysics. I did my PhD in Biophysics (2014) at the Joint Program in Computational Biology between the Institute for Research in Biomedicine and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. I develop coarse-grained methods such as Elastic Network Models and Langevin Dynamics, and combine them with Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations and structural ensemble analysis to understand protein dynamics and function, and specially, the impact of oncogenic mutations. I will join Karolinska Institute to start my own research group as Assistant Professor Position next Fall 2020.

Publications (*corresponding):

  • Orellana L.* “Convergence of EGFR glioblastoma mutations: evolution and allostery rationalizing targeted therapy”. Molecular & Cellular Oncology (2019), doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/23723556.2019.1630798
  • Orellana L.*, Thorne A.H., Lema R., Parisian A., Hospital A., Brun-Heath I., Scott A.M., Lindahl E., Furnari F. and Orozco M. (2019). “Oncogenic mutations at the EGFR ectodomain structurally converge to remove a steric hindrance on a kinase-coupled cryptic epitope.” PNAS, April 26th, doi: 1073/pnas.1821442116
  • Ma.J, Benitez A, Li J., Miki S., Ponte de Albuquerquea C., Galatro T., Orellana L., … et al. Furnari F.B. (2019) “Inhibition of Nuclear PTEN Tyrosine Phosphorylation Enhances Glioma Radiation Sensitivity through Attenuated DNA Repair. ” Cancer Cell, doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2019.01.020
  • Orellana L.*, Gustavsson J., Yoluk O., Bergh C., Lindahl E., (2019). “The eBDIMS path-sampling server: generation and interactive visualization of protein transition pathways in nD-motion spaces.” Bioinformatics, doi: 1093/bioinformatics/btz104
  • Binder Z., Thorne A.H, Bakas S., Wileyto E.P., Bilello M., Akbari H., Rathore S., Zhang L., Ferguson C.J., Dahiya S., Morrissette J.J.D, Ma J., Scott A.M, Orellana L, Davatzikos C., Furnari F.B, O’Rourke D.M. (2017) Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor extracellular domain mutations in glioblastoma present opportunities for clinical imaging and therapeutic development. Cancer Cell (2018), doi: 1016/j.ccell.2018.06.006
  • Orellana L.*, Yoluk O., Carrillo O.,Orozco M., Lindahl E. “Prediction and validation of protein intermediate states from structurally-rich ensembles and coarse-grained simulations”. Nature Communications (2016), 7:12575, doi: 10.1038/ncomms12575
  • Orellana L., Hospital A., Orozco M. “Oncogenic mutations of the EGF-Receptor ectodomain reveal an unexpected mechanism for ligand-independent activation”. biorXiv (2014), doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/009068
  • Fenwick R.B.#,Orellana L.#, Esteban-Martin S., Salvatella X., Orozco M. “Correlated motions are a fundamental property of β-sheets”. Nature Communications (2014), 5: 4070, doi: 10.1038/ncomms5070 #Co-First
  • Sfriso P., Emperador A., Orellana L., Hospital A., Gelpí J.L., Orozco M. “Finding Conformational Transition Pathways from Discrete Molecular Dynamics Simulations”. J. Chem. Theory Comput. (2012), 8:p.4707 – 4718 ACS
  • Orozco M., Orellana L., Hospital A., Naganathan A.N., Emperador A., Carrillo O. and Gelpí J.L.. (2010) “Coarse Grained Representation of Protein Flexibility. Foundations, successes and shortcomings.” In “Computational Chemistry Methods in Structural Biology”. Advances in Protein Chemistry and Structural Biology, vol 80. Ed. C.Christov. Elsevier. PubMed
  •  Orellana L., Rueda M., Ferrer-Costa C., López-Blanco J.R., Chacón P. and Orozco M. “Approaching Elastic Network Models to Molecular Dynamics Flexibility” J. Chem. Theory Comput. (2010) 6: p2910–2923 (Cover Paper: JCTC September 14, 2010 )
  •  Camps J., Carrillo O., Emperador A., Orellana L., Hospital A., Rueda M., Gelpi JL. & Orozco M. “FlexServ: An integrative tool for the Analysis of protein Flexibility” Bioinformatics (2009) 25 (1): p1709–1710. PubMed

PhD Thesis: Orellana L. “Protein Dynamics studied by coarse-grained and atomistic theoretical approaches” University of Barcelona, Department of Fundamental Physics (2014) [download]

Webpages: