Department of Synthetic Biology and Immunology
Research of the molecular mechanism of molecular recognition and signaling in innate immune response, and synthetic biology.

Co-workers
Researchers
- izr. prof. dr. Mojca Benčina
- dr. Hana Esih
- dr. Tina Fink
- dr. Vida Forstnerič
- dr. Helena Gradišar
- dr. Arvind Kumar Gupta
- dr. Iva Hafner Bratkovič
- dr. Vid Jazbec
- prof. dr. Roman Jerala
- dr. Duško Lainšček
- dr. Ajasja Ljubetič
- dr. Mateja Manček Keber
- dr. Martina Mohorčič
- dr. Federico Alberto Olivieri
- dr. Tjaša Plaper
- dr. Tadej Satler
- dr. Jaka Snoj
- dr. Petra Sušjan Leite
- dr. Taja Železnik Ramuta
- dr. Weijun Zhou
Expert fellows
Young Researchers
- Jure Bohinc
- Elvira Boršič
- Ana Godeša
- Tea Govednik Hropot
- Anja Horvat
- Filip Ivanovski
- Mateja Jeršin
- Borna Jurković
- Kaja Klemenčič
- Urška Knez Štibler
- Alina Konstantinova
- Archismita Kundu
- Špela Malenšek
- Matea Maruna
- Klemen Mezgec
- Tjaša Mlakar
- Valeriya Musina
- Sara Orehek
- Jelica Pantović
- Peter Pečan
- Ema Pleško
- Eva Rajh
- Mojca Skrbinek
- Liza Ulčakar
- Nina Varda
- Sara Vidmar
- Hana Vokač Križaj
Technical Staff
Representative Publications
- PLAPER, Tjaša., MERLJAK, Estera., FINK, Tina, SATLER Tadej, LJUBETIČ, Ajasja, LAINŠČEK, Duško, JAZBEC, Vid, BENČINA, Mojca, STEVANOSKA, Sintija, DŽEROSKI, Sašo, JERALA, Roman. Designed allosteric protein logic. Cell Discovery 10, 8 (2024).
- SATLER, Tadej, HADŽI, San, JERALA, Roman. Crystal structure of de novo designed coiled-coil protein origami triangle. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2023, 145, 31, 16995–17000.
- RIHTAR, Erik, LEBAR, Tina, LAINŠČEK, Duško, KORES, Katarina, LEŠNIK, Samo, BREN, Urban, JERALA, Roman. Chemically inducible split protein regulators for mammalian cells. Nature chemical biology. 2023, 19, 64-71.
- RAMŠAK, Maruša, RAMIREZ, Dominique A., HOUGH, Loren E., SHIRTS, Michael R., VIDMAR, Sara, ELERŠIČ FILIPIČ, Kristina, ANDERLUH, Gregor, JERALA, Roman. Programmable de novo designed coiled coil-mediated phase separation in mammalian cells. Nature communications. 2023, 14, 7973, 1-15.
- LAINŠČEK, Duško, GOLOB URBANC, Anja, MIKOLIČ, Veronika, PANTOVIĆ, Jelica, MALENŠEK, Špela, JERALA, Roman. Regulation of CD19 CAR-T cell activation based on an engineered downstream transcription factor. Molecular therapy oncolytics. Jun. 15, 2023, 29, 77-90.
- MERLJAK, Estera, MALOVRH, Benjamin, JERALA, Roman. Segmentation strategy of de novo designed four-helical bundles expands protein oligomerization modalities for cell regulation. Nature communications. 2023, 14, 1995, 1-12.
- LAINŠČEK, Duško, FORSTNERIČ, Vida, MIKOLIČ, Veronika, MALENŠEK, Špela, PEČAN, Peter, BENČINA, Mojca, SEVER, Matjaž, PODGORNIK, Helena, JERALA, Roman. Coiled-coil heterodimer-based recruitment of an exonuclease to CRISPR/Cas for enhanced gene editing. Nature communications. 23 Jun. 2022, 13, 1-12.
- AUPIČ, Jana, LAPENTA, Fabio, STRMŠEK, Žiga, MERLJAK, Estera, PLAPER, Tjaša, JERALA, Roman. Metal ion-regulated assembly of designed modular protein cages. Science advances. 17 Jun. 2022, 8, 24, 1-12.
- PRAZNIK, Arne, FINK, Tina, FRANKO, Nik, LONZARIĆ, Jan, BENČINA, Mojca, JERALA, Nina, PLAPER, Tjaša, ROŠKAR, Simona, JERALA, Roman. Regulation of protein secretion through chemical regulation of endoplasmic reticulum retention signal cleavage. Nature Communications. 2022, 13, Article number: 1323.
- AUPIČ, Jana, STRMŠEK, Žiga, LAPENTA, Fabio, Pahovnik, David, Pisanski, Tomaž, DROBNAK, Igor, LJUBETIČ, Ajasja, JERALA, Roman. Designed folding pathway of modular coiled-coil-based proteins. Nature communications. 2021, 12, 1-12.
- LAPENTA Fabio, AUPIČ Jana, VEZZOLI Marco, STRMŠEK Žiga, Da Vela Stefano, Svergun Dmitri, Carazo Jose Maria, Melero, Roberto, JERALA Roman. Self-assembly and regulation of protein cages from pre-organised coiled-coil modules. Nature Communications. 2021, 12(1):939.
- Evavold, Charles L., HAFNER BRATKOVIČ, Iva, Devant, Pascal, Dʼandrea, Jasmin M., Ngwa, Elsy M., BORŠIĆ, Elvira, Doench, John G., Lafleur, Martin W., Sharpe, Arlene H., Thiagarajah, Jay R., Kagan, Jonathan C. Control of gasdermin D oligomerization and pyroptosis by the Ragulator-Rag-mTORC1 pathway. Cell. 2021, 184, 4495-4511.