Rate My Professor Laura Spagnolo

Professor Laura Spagnolo is Professor of Biophysical Chemistry in the School of Molecular Biosciences at the University of Glasgow, a position she holds since joining the institution in 2016 as Reader in Structural Biology. She is a co-founding member of the Scottish Centre for Macromolecular Imaging and, in 2023, became Group Leader of the Spagnolo Group at the Research Complex at Harwell. Prior to Glasgow, Spagnolo established her independent research group in 2009 at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions, progressing from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer, where she investigated protein-DNA interactions, extremophilic assemblies, and Type III CRISPR complexes. Her postdoctoral research at the Institute of Cancer Research in London focused on the structural organization and macromolecular plasticity of DNA-PK synapses in non-homologous end-joining complexes essential for DNA damage repair. Earlier, she conducted a short postdoc at ELETTRA synchrotron in Trieste, Italy. Spagnolo earned her MSc in Pharmacy from the University of Trieste and her PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Padova, Italy, including 18 months of research at EMBL Heidelberg, Germany, under supervisors Angelo Fontana and Luis Serrano.

Spagnolo's research specializations encompass the structural biology of macromolecular complexes involved in genome editing, DNA damage and repair, and RNA metabolism, utilizing integrated approaches from quasi-atomic to cellular resolution. Her academic interests include gene editing mechanisms, DNA integrases, Staufen protein assemblies, and CRISPR systems. Notable publications include 'Cyclic nucleotide-induced helical structure activates a TIR immune effector' (Nature, 2022), 'Structure of the CRISPR interference complex CSM reveals key similarities with Cascade' (Molecular Cell, 2013), 'Structure and mechanism of the CMR complex for CRISPR-mediated antiviral immunity' (Molecular Cell, 2012), 'Three-dimensional structure and regulation of the DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs)' (Structure, 2005), and 'Structural basis of DNA recombination catalysis and regulation by ϕC31 integrase' (bioRxiv, 2025). She has received major funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Medical Research Council, including grants for the Scottish Macromolecular Imaging Centre (2017–2022), DNA site-specific recombination by serine integrases (2022–2025), and light and electron microscopy of Staufen assemblies (2024–2027). Her contributions have illuminated key processes in genome stability and editing technologies.