Julia Rubio Loscertales

 

I studied Physics at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), where I took the Biophysics course that made me pursue a related master’s degree in ‘Physics of Condensed Matter and Biological Systems’ at UAM. During my master’s, I chose a computational approach for my thesis where I investigated the mechanical properties of A-tracks in DNA using a coarse-grained molecular dynamics model.

Afterward, I transitioned to a more experimental approach and joined Dr. Jose Requejo’s lab at the CNB-CSIC for my PhD, also under the supervision of Dr. Marisela Vélez. During the first years of my PhD, my research focused on understanding the interaction between the active protein FtsZ and lipid bilayers, using single-molecule fluorescence techniques. The challenges we encountered helped us better understand lipid bilayer dynamics and led us to develop hidden Markov models to characterize single-particle tracking (SPT) data. In addition to SPT, I also gained experience with other advanced fluorescence techniques such as fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM). For the last part of my thesis, I have joined IMDEA Nanociencia under the co-supervision of Dr. Cristina Flors. In her lab, I am further exploring the use of FLIM to investigate the mechanical properties of bacterial membranes.

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