Our Research and Health Science Education (RHSE) community is a diverse but close-knit group of undergraduate and graduate students, trainees, faculty and staff. In this series, we introduce you to some of our members, talk about their roles in the university and share a few fun facts about them. Today we introduce Dr.Lucie Wolf, a postdoctoral fellow at the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research.
Born and raised in Germany, Lucie completed her bachelor's and master’s degrees in molecular medicine from the University of Erlangen. She then completed her PhD with the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg and the University of Heidelberg.
Ready for her next adventure, in June 2022, she decided to take the leap and traveled to Toronto to work with Dr.Stephane Angers, Director of the Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research, Professor of Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Charles H. Best Chair of Medical Research.
Along with the Angers’ lab, Lucie is collaborating with members of Dr.Mikko Taipale’s lab. Taipale is an Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics at the Donnelly Centre, Anne and Max Tanenbaum Chair in Biomedical Research and Canada Research Chair in Functional Proteomics and Proteostasis. Taipale previously worked with visiting scientist, Dr. Juline Poirson, also of the Donnelly Centre, to develop a way to identify effector proteins across the entire human proteome.
Effector proteins can be used to regulate the function of other proteins, and the study helped researchers to identify over 600 new effector proteins. Lucie is using this new technology to conduct her research on treatment modalities for colon cancer.
Lucie explains, “colon cancer has a specific cell signalling pathway that is mis-regulated. There is an effector protein that is upregulated and we’re trying to find ways to bring it back to normal.” By using the new technology from the Taipale lab, Lucie is able to bring many proteins into close proximity with this effector protein, and observe how they react together. Her hope is to identify proteins that, when brought close to the upregulated effector protein, can help to bring it back down to normal levels.
This technology, according to Lucie, is the reason she wanted to come to Toronto to work with members of the Donnelly Centre. The opportunity to work with the researchers who developed this new technology was too good to pass up, so Lucie packed her bags, bid farewell to her family and friends, and embarked on this new quest.
Shortly after arriving in Canada and starting her research, she was awarded the prestigious 2023 Charles H. Best Postdoctoral Fellowship which helped fund her project. This year, she received the 2024 Walter Benjamin Fellowship from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, (DFG) Research Institute in Germany, which provides funding for postdoctoral trainees to conduct research projects at an institution of their choice.
When she’s not busy in the lab or visiting with friends and family in Germany, you can find Lucie hanging out with local friends, baking, cooking or exploring art exhibitions. Her newest hobby is cross stitch, which she enjoys because it provides her with an outlet to be creative.
One of Lucie’s hidden talents is her ability to connect with others. “People like to talk to me,” she says and this helps her immensely when it comes to teaching and mentoring students. In fact, she recently participated in mentoring students who have just received offers of admission into graduate studies and are trying to decide on a lab, and this past summer, Lucie mentored a summer student. She also enjoys participating in U of T’s Science Rendezvous, a free, annual, all-day science, technology, art, and math festival for youth.
Whether she’s in the lab unraveling the intricacies of protein regulation or sharing the wonders of science with youth, Lucie is a true inspiration.
