DrSzymon Manka

My current research combines structural biology, cell biology, imaging, and emerging sensing approaches to understand how proteins misfold in living systems and how these earliest events might be detected before disease becomes clinically visible.

An interdisciplinary research trajectory

My research career has been shaped by crossing disciplinary boundaries to answer fundamental biological questions. I began in matrix biology, studying collagen degradation by matrix metalloproteinases, then moved into cytoskeletal cell biology to investigate the mechanisms of microtubule dynamics. I later transitioned into structural neurobiology, where my work helped define the structural basis of prion strain diversity, and into chemical biology and advanced imaging, where I developed approaches to visualise protein misfolding in living cells. I am now extending this trajectory towards new strategies for detecting the earliest molecular events in protein misfolding.

Research philosophy

I am especially interested in questions that cannot be solved within a single disciplinary toolkit. My approach is to combine methods and ideas across fields, particularly where new measurements can reveal biological events that were previously inaccessible. Across different stages of my career, I have been drawn to technically challenging problems at the interface of molecular mechanism, biological function and disease.