PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Enzyme Discovery and Protein Engineering to Develop Novel Enzyme Delivery Platforms for Precision Targeting of Aberrant Glycans in Tumor Cells.

The Biochemistry Laboratory at IQS–Ramon Llull University (Barcelona) is offering a research assistant position at the interface of enzyme discovery, protein engineering, glycobiology, and cancer biotechnology. This project aims to translate fundamental advances in enzyme design into innovative biomedical applications for the selective targeting of cancer-associated glycans.
Protein glycosylation is one of the most prevalent post-translational modifications in eukaryotic cells and plays essential roles in protein stability, signaling, and cell-cell communication. In cancer, glycosylation pathways are frequently dysregulated, leading to the appearance of aberrant glycan structures on cell-surface and secreted proteins. These tumor-associated glycans are recognized as key hallmarks of malignant transformation and contribute to tumor progression, metastasis, immune evasion, and therapy resistance. Importantly,



strategies aimed at preventing or remodeling these abnormal glycan patterns have shown significant potential for cancer treatment.
This PhD project seeks to discover and engineer novel carbohydrate-active enzymes, particularly glycosidases, to identify unique substrate specificities and to uncover new catalytic functions towards complex glycans, capable of selectively modifying cancer-associated glycans. The resulting enzymes will open new opportunities at the interface of biotechnology and biomedicine through interdisciplinary research perspectives: i) Development of targeted enzyme delivery platforms to selectively remodel aberrant glycosylation in tumor cells and explore its role in cancer progression and ii) Protein engineering and enzyme optimization to enhance activity, specificity, and stability, generating next-generation biocatalysts for glycobiology, biotechnology, and therapeutic applicati

📌 PhD Protein Engineering (Barcelona)
🏢 IQS Barcelona
📍 Barcelona