Andrija Sente
Max Planck Research Goup Leader
Molecular Neuroscience
Vita
Short Bio
I completed the Medical and Veterinary Science Tripos at the University of Cambridge. During this time, I honed my research skills as a summer student at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, working on the regulation of G-protein coupled receptor signaling (with M. Madan Babu and Tilman Flock), nucleosome remodelling (with David Barford and Tobias Wauer), and hypoxia sensing (with Mario de Bono and Changchun Chen).
Following the completion of Stage 1 clinical training, I was selected for the Cambridge University Clinical School's MB/PhD program. I conducted my PhD research in Radu Aricescu's group in the MRC LMB's Neurobiology division, where I also stayed for a short post-doc. During this time, I was part of a large academia-industry collaboration that resulted in the first atomic-resolution reconstruction of a biological specimen by cryo-EM. This work was included in the top 10 scientific breakthroughs of 2020 in the annual list compiled by Nature.
My work has been recognized by the British Neuroscience Association's Postgraduate Prize and the Grand Prize of the 2024 Science and SciLifeLab Award for Young Scientists.
Prior to joining the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, I worked as a Senior Applied Research Scientist in the AI industry.
Outside of research, I am a musician and sports enthusiast: I love football, chess and hold a black belt in Shotokan karate. I also enjoy books, movies, TV series and spending time in nature.
Academic History
2022-2023
Postdoctoral Fellow (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK)
2018-2022
PhD in Natural Sciences (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and University of Cambridge MB/PhD program)
- Thesis: "A Structural and Computational Study of GABAA Receptor Diversity"
- Supervisor: Radu Aricescu, second supervisors: M. Madan Babu, Tom Blundell
2017-2018
Stage 1 Clinical training (University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine)
2014-2017
Medical and Veterinary Science Tripos (University of Cambridge)