Guillermo Montoya Follow Guillermo
Research director, professor
Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, University of Copenhagen
Biography
The Montoya Group works to illuminate the molecular details of cellular processes. This knowledge is the basis for the understanding of diseases and the possible development of treatments. The group works in the interface between biology, physics and chemistry and uses molecular biology, X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy to dissect the working mechanisms of the macromolecules that constitute the cell’s machinery. Although these machines underlie all biological processes, there is a lack of knowledge of their function at the atomic level.
“Our approach is to use advanced methodology to understand basic cellular mechanisms at an atomic level. We investigate the structural details and function of macromolecules involved in cell cycle progression and genome integrity. Deciphering the working mechanisms of these important processes provides the basis for understanding disease.” says Guillermo Montoya
A recent leap in methodological development has overcome some of the barriers that avoided the study of large macromolecular complexes and allows for a degree of accuracy that has not been possible before. The Montoya group is part of this revolution and since 2017 the group has contributed to set up a state-of-the-art cryo-electron microscopy system that have accelerated their research.