ASEF Junior Fellow Miha Rožič Successfully Completes His Research Visit at University of California, San Francisco

Another ASEF Junior Fellow has recently concluded his research visit – congratulations are in order for Miha Rožič! The Junior Fellow generation 2024 joined Dr Andrej Šali in the Sali Lab at the University of California, San Francisco.

Miha is a student of Pharmacy at the University of Ljubljana, with a special interest in incurable diseases. For several years he has been working in the research group of Assoc. Prof. Izidor Sosič, where he developed new potential chimeric molecules (PROTAC) for the treatment of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

During his time at the Sali Lab, Miha worked on structural biology projects, combining results from various methods (X-ray crystallography, SAXS, electron tomography…) to create the most accurate protein models.

“This approach helps simulate larger protein complexes, cellular structures and their dynamics. My main project there was writing a spatio-temporal tutorial, which can be used as a guide for other structural biologists to understand how certain protein complexes are assembled.”

He stated that his time at the Sali Lab gave him valuable insights into “dry lab” workflow, while improving his coding abilities and his understanding of protein complexes. He aims to use this knowledge in future work with bifunctional molecules, which is also his primary research area:

“Bifunctional molecules can target any protein complex in a cell, allowing us to affect pathological processes in neurodegenerative diseases and different types of cancer. This visit has enhanced my ability to understand and target these complexes effectively.”

Besides working in the laboratory, Miha shared that he enjoyed his time in San Francisco in every aspect. He was able to explore the Bay Area and attend local baseball and basketball games. He also spent time with his colleagues from the laboratory and got to celebrate the 4th of July with them. In his own words:

“This research visit significantly contributed to both my personal and professional growth. I am grateful to ASEF for this opportunity, to Prof Andrej Šali for even making it possible, and to the postdoc in his lab, Andrew Latham, for his help with my spatio-temporal tutorial project.”

We’re very proud and happy to be able to share the news of another rich and productive research visit. We offer our sincere congratulations to Miha, with the hopes that his newfound knowledge will support him in conducting new and exciting research.

We sincerely thank Dr Andrej Šali for mentoring Miha Rožič throughout his visit and to Andrew Latham for his help and guidance.

We also thank the Office for Youth and all ASEF donors for supporting the work of ASEF and our Junior Fellows.